1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
r****** 
 
 
THE 
 
 MUNICIPALIST. 
 
 IN TWO PARTS. 
 
 L'Etat c'est moi : 
 Louis XIV NAPOLEON I. 
 
 L'Etat c'est la reason : 
 FREDERICK THE GREAT. 
 
 L'Etat c'est la justice : 
 THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 GEORGE SAVAGE, PUBLISHER, 116 NASSAU STREET. 
 ROSS & TOUSEY, AND DEXTER & BROTHER. 
 
 1858. 
 
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1858, 
 
 BY GEORGE SAVAGE, 
 
 in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for 
 Southern District of New York. 
 
 SAVAGE & MCCREA, STKREOTYPEKS, 
 
 13 Chambers Street, N. Y. 
 
f(s 
 
 TO 
 
 HIS CHILDREN 
 
 AND 
 
 THE KISINO GENERATION 
 
 THE FOLLOWING LETTERS 
 
 Snstritoi 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 IT is customary to say that republics can not exist without pub- 
 lic virtue. There is much truth in this saying, which, also, is ap- 
 plicable to monarchies ; but, by a careful study of the history of 
 both, it will be perceived that the causes of the downfall of re- 
 publics in particular, are principally owing to their imperfect or- 
 ganization in regard to three entirely material, and constantly 
 varying subjects, namely : Population, Size of State, and its sub- 
 divisions, and Public Business, and not exactly to a too great 
 deficiency of public virtue alone, because men, on an average, are 
 the same, at the time when they set up republics, and when they 
 suffer them to become monarchized. The difference is that, at the 
 first epoch, population, size, and business, were adequate to the 
 republican, and at the latter period to the monarchical form of 
 government. It is, however, true and obvious, from all we see 
 and read, that public virtue is, with us, at a low ebb. Why is 
 this ? We have schools for all, innumerable churches, religious 
 meetings and publications, colleges and academies in all towns and 
 cities, books in all houses, and newspapers showering upon us in 
 clouds ; pushed on by a noble zeal for improvement, we organize 
 universities, scientific associations, tract societies, reading-rooms, 
 libraries, one after another ; still, the inestimable principles and 
 durable advantages of honesty and justice to communities, and in- 
 dividuals composing them, seem to be lost sight of, and hence, 
 public corruption is constantly increasing. Why, we ask again, 
 
6 PREFACE. 
 
 is this ? It is further true, that a state institution is either the 
 most powerful social agent, to promote the sense of honesty and 
 justice, the mother of public virtue, or the most effective machin- 
 ery to sow the seed of vice, from which spring up public corrup- 
 tion, broadcast over the land. History tells of bad and good 
 states, of their bad and good influences upon the public morals, 
 characters, and inclinations of men. A close observer may dis- 
 cern, in this regard, a great difference even between our own 
 states, although all are republics. Now, when we can not deny 
 that our society, although in the full possession of the most abun- 
 dant moral and intellectual means for the general improvement of 
 which ever an age could boast, from day to day is degenerating, 
 we must necessarily come to the conclusion that our political in- 
 stitutions, generally speaking, are working in the wrong direction, 
 and therefore need reforming. 
 
 This conclusion has been virtually admitted by the legislature 
 of the largest state in the Union, that of New York, when re- 
 solving, without a dissenting vote, to take the sense of the people 
 on the amending of the constitution at the next November elec- 
 tion. The press has been teeming with loud complaints of public 
 corruption, and a deficient administration of justice, in fact, a 
 failure of the state institution itself. This resolve of the legisla- 
 ture should, therefore, have not taken it, or the citizens, by sur- 
 prise. A glance at the commercial crisis, the effects of which are 
 still felt all over the world, and the role which the banks and 
 judiciary of the empire state played in it at the legislative en- 
 croachments upon the simplest, clearest, and most sacred munici- 
 pal rights of towns at the defective management of the public 
 works at the overpowering influence of the lobbies on the legis- 
 lature at the increase of public debt, taxes, crime, and mobism 
 at the delay, confusion, and corruption, in the judicial proce- 
 dures at the abuse of the executive pardoning power at the 
 defective workings of the jury at the insecurity of life and 
 property ; a mere glance, we say, at these crying evils, comprised 
 
PREFACE. 7 
 
 by the words " public corruption," necessarily more acutely felt 
 by the legislators themselves than others, because more directly 
 evident to them, was sufficient to determine them at once, without 
 waiting for renewed newspaper discussions, to resort to the re- 
 vision of the constitution, perhaps involving an overhauling of 
 the whole state machinery. 
 
 The voting upon the amending of the constitution, at this pe- 
 riod of our state history, is, therefore, a most important act of the 
 people, because it depends upon it to restore the sullied honor of 
 our noble form of government, and to check, in a large measure, 
 the onward course of public corruption. We will succeed if we 
 go earnestly to work, with a thorough knowledge of the causes of 
 the evil and the way to remove them. 
 
 To afford, now, to each voter, to each family, an easy oppor- 
 tunity to inform themselves thoroughly of those causes and reme- 
 dies, and the paramount necessity of amending their present con- 
 stitution, is the aim of this book. 
 
 This, so we thought, could not be done better than by a com- 
 prehensive explanation and critical discussion of the American 
 system of governing, as it originally is, that is, of the federal 
 constitution, the ruling guide for the management of the national 
 public business, and of the state constitution, under revision, 
 serving as a guide for the management of the municipal public 
 business, with regard to the prevalent practice in both Congress 
 and state. 
 
 Almost simultaneously with the legislature of New York, that 
 of Maryland resolved to take the sense of the people upon the 
 amending their constitution of 1851. The vote, soon after cast, 
 was against a change. Both have introduced an elective judicia- 
 ry ; from both states come loud complaints of a defective admin- 
 istration of justice ! These are significant signs on the political 
 horizon. If we have exposed and explained them frankly as we 
 find them, we did not intend to reflect upon any man ; no, but 
 merely to show what defects, especially, in the municipal social 
 
8 PREFACE. 
 
 organization, have been instrumental to produce the complained- 
 of results. We hope, therefore, that this book, written as it is 
 from mere patriotic motives, will meet a patriotic welcome, and 
 recommend itself to the candid and generous notice of the press. 
 
 Besides a critical examination of these constitutions, the reader 
 will find in this book general instructive remarks on the nature 
 and organization of the public business, and some important pub- 
 lic documents, partly in connection with our political fabric and 
 that of Europe: among others, "Washington's Farewell Ad- 
 dress," contrasted with Macchiavelli's celebrated book, "The 
 Prince." 
 
 By the " crisis," the publication of this book has been delayed, 
 which will account for some remarks on the last congressional 
 election and other political events of the time, when the letters in 
 the first part were written. It is hoped that it will find favor 
 with the readers of all parties, impossible as it is to please all 
 men, even when aiming at nothing but truth, i. e., the exposition of 
 great principles and " sound doctrine." The words " sound doc- 
 trine" taken from Paul's first letter to Timothy, induce us to re- 
 spectfully solicit the particular attention of all Christian ministers 
 to this book. Its leading idea that the state is set up exclusively 
 for the realization of justice (the main source of public virtue), 
 has been clearly enunciated by Paul, the great propagator of 
 Christianity, and real founder of our Christian institutions. More- 
 over this idea has been strictly followed up by the framers of our 
 federal constitution, as shown in the book ; it has been further 
 recognised and carried out by those who achieved the separation 
 of the state and church ; but it has been, in the course of time, 
 lost sight of by Congress and states, and thus become the cause 
 of most of the public corruption and decline of public virtue com- 
 plained of. This to prove, in order to show how to stem the 
 dangerous current, is one of the main objects of the book. But 
 here it will meet opposition, and even condemnation, from many 
 sides. But time will prove that Paul and the framers of the 
 
PREFACE. 9 
 
 federal constitution, and those who achieved the separation of 
 church and state, were right. 
 
 The members of the judiciary, who are in the habit of draw- 
 ing wisdom from the classical fountains, will remember the line 
 of Virgil: 
 
 " Discite justitiam moniti, et non temnere Divos !" 
 
 We wish they may please consider this book as an humble 
 common-sense appeal to renewed exertions for the creation of a 
 dignified, independent, American judiciary, based upon an indi- 
 genous American common law, emanating from and in harmony 
 with the great principle of self-government, and therefore in 
 many respects different from the law ideas commonly prevalent 
 in subject society. 
 
 To the rising generation the book has been dedicated, and 
 therefore written in familiar letter style, because those who are 
 just entering into actual citizen life will have to finish the work 
 of a great political reform, which stern necessity is forcing upon 
 us. 
 
 This book is, as its title indicates, particularly devoted to the 
 great municipal interest of society. It appears before the public 
 under similar circumstances which called forth the Federalist, then 
 working for the abrogation, of the unsatisfactory articles of con- 
 federation and the adoption of the present excellent federal con- 
 stitution. 
 
 The municipalist advocates the alteration of the present con- 
 stitution of the state of New York, and its replacement by one 
 more suitable to the urgency of the times. 
 
 Before we conclude these prefacial lines we owe to the ladies 
 a few words of apology, for having so often in our letters invited 
 them to listen to our political discussions. We belong to those 
 who are convinced that the career of a republic is of a doubtful 
 duration if the whole population is not penetrated with a suffi- 
 cient knowledge of its public affairs, to prevent them from coming 
 
 1* 
 
10 PREFACE. 
 
 under the exclusive possession of a favored few or control of 
 mere party politicians. In regard to the importance of this 
 knowledge there is no difference between the sexes, for women 
 have, if not more, as much interest in the well-being of families, 
 promoted by good government, as men. 
 
 We possess excellent constitutional commentaries for students 
 and professionists, but none, to our knowledge, which is calculated 
 to promote an easy understanding of that what is called all over 
 the world public or political business. Our book, certainly, is no 
 novel, no flashy literary product, but" a novelty, as the reader, 
 acquainted with this kind of literature, will find out. It spreads 
 notions and light over that material upon which the security 
 and happiness of home and society everywhere are built. Such 
 a book would not answer its purpose if it should not meet the 
 favor of mothers and daughters as well as of fathers and sons. 
 
 We hope, therefore, not to be considered intruding, if we desire 
 for it a place among the select books of every household. 
 BROOKLYN, September, 1858. 
 
INDEX TO SUBJECTS. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 LETTERS ON THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION PAGE 25 
 
 GENERAL WASHINGTON'S LETTER PRESENTING THE CONSTITUTION. 136 
 
 A LETTER ON COMMITTEES 138 
 
 A LETTER ON BUSINESS 140 
 
 A LETTER ON ELECTION IMPULSES 158 
 
 DECLARATION OP INDEPENDENCE 161 
 
 GENERAL WASHINGTON'S CIRCULAR LETTER 166 
 
 GENERAL WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ORDERS 170 
 
 GENERAL WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS 173 
 
 THE PRINCE, BY MACCHIAVELLI 191 
 
 PART II. 
 
 LETTERS ON THE CONSTITUTION OP THE STATE OP NEW YORK... 203 
 
 A LETTER ON THE JUDICIARY 251 
 
 A LETTER ON PENAL COLONIES 289 
 
 A LETTER ON LARGE CITIES AND THE CONSTITUTION OF MARY- 
 LAND 294 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PART. L THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 Introduction. Causes of the Letters. Little Appreciation of the Federal 
 Constitution. The Church a Comforter, but no Governor. Restoration 
 of the Authority of Law. Influence of Woman. Resistance against the 
 Execution of Laws. Vigilance Committees. Ten-Thousand-Dollar Sub- 
 scription for Rebellion in Kansas. Ancient Rome. Dangers to the 
 Constitution and Union. Articles of Confederation of 1777. New Con- 
 stitution for a Society of European Descendants, Africans, and Indians. 
 The Object, Union and an independent, powerful National Government, 
 excluding all Municipal Affairs, Bond Labor included. The Contents in 
 Seven Articles PAGE 25 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 The Constitution. Its Reading. Preamble. Short History of the Coun- 
 try. The Revolution. Necessity of a National Government. Greeks, 
 Romans, Germans, Italians. United States of America, Family, Tribe. 
 Constitution of the People, and not of the States. Object of the Con- 
 stitution. National, municipal, free, non-political or private Affairs. 
 Justice. St. Paul's First Letter to Timothy. Common Defence. 
 Subjection. Licentiousness 28 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 Congress. Works in three Channels. Legislature. Grants. Repub- 
 lics. Monarchies. Government preservative, not progressive. Scar- 
 city of Solons. Senate and House of Representatives. Two-Chamber 
 System. Qualification of Members of the House of Representative?. 
 Voting and electing, a Right of Families. Congress biennial. Qualifica- 
 tion, twenty-five Years of Age. Negroes, their counting. Number of 
 Representatives. Census. Large Legislative Bodies. Vacancies filled 
 by the State Executive Action. Speaker. Impeachment. Importance 
 of the House of Representatives. Ladies. Decorum 32 
 
14 CONTENTS. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 Senate. Organization. Each Senator has one Vote. No Right of the 
 State to instruct them. Election by the States. One third of the Sen- 
 ators to be chosen every second Year. Temporary Appointments. Age 
 of thirty Years. Vice-President, President of the Senate. Impeach- 
 ment. Election. Annual' Sessions of Congress, and the Parliament in 
 Great Britain. Difference between Congress and the House of Parlia- 
 ment in Great Britain. Senate an executive Council. British private 
 Council 39 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 Election Returns. Quorum. Order of Sessions. Rules of Proceedings. 
 Decorum. Expelling of Disorderly Members. Journal. Yeas and 
 Nays. Factitious Legislation should be Resented. Adjournment. 
 Compensation. Privileged from Arrest. No Questioning for any 
 Speech. Speeches for Party Purposes. Members of Congress ex- 
 cluded from Offices. Exalted Mission of Congress. Influence of La- 
 dies 42 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 Bills of Revenue in both Houses. British Imitation. Veto. All Presi- 
 dents have used it. Its Advantages in Regard to Factitious Legislation. 
 Repassing Bills. Punishment of Unconstitutional Legislation. Two- 
 third Vote. Parties, -r- How to get an Office. Electors. Political 
 Brokers. Strict Morality in obtaining Offices nowhere. How they are 
 bestowed in Monarchies and Republics. Faction, its Danger. Aboli- 
 tionists a Faction. Custom in England that Ministers resign when de- 
 feated in Parliament, to be imitated in the United States 45 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 Congressional Business or Powers. Political Institutions. United States, 
 States, Counties, Towns, Cities, Villages. Conflicts between them. 
 Supreme Court the Arbiter. Kansas Troubles. Direct and Indirect 
 Taxation. Paying Debts. Estimates. Tariffs. Direct Taxation un- 
 popular. Protective and Prohibitive Tariffs 51 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 Contracting Debts. States to pay as they go. Regulation of Commerce 
 at Home and Abroad. Law of Mutuality. The Self-preservation of 
 Nations 53 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 Naturalization and Bankruptcy Laws. Foreigners. Declaration of In- 
 tention to become a Citizen. Congress, and State-citizenship Laws. 
 
CONTENTS. 15 
 
 Family Suffrage. American Woman's Influence. Credit. Congress 
 not true to their duty. Legislation of the several States on Bankruptcy 
 Suppletive. France. Germany. President Buchanan's Message on 
 a Congressional Bankruptcy Law. Congressional Committee report 
 against it. Denies the Power of Congress .56 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 Coining Money. Its Value. Standard of Weights and Measures. 
 Mints. Assay Offices. Decimal Coinage. Counterfeiting. Punish- 
 ment. Post-Offices. Post-Roads. Roman Custom. Mail Lines. 
 Competition. Internal Improvement Policy 59 
 
 LETTER XI. 
 
 Sciences and Useful Arts. Copyright. Patents. Progress of Science. 
 Ripening of the Understanding. Locke. Smithson. His Legacy 
 Anti American. Political Patronage of Arts and Sciences in Europe. 
 Goethe. Fourierism 61 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 Inferior Courts. United States District Courts. Piracies. Felonies. 
 Law of Nations. Ocean Police. Branches of the Ocean. English 
 Law curiosity. War. Letters of Marque and Reprisal. Captures on 
 Land and Water. Justice the end of Wars. Court of Nations. Ju- 
 risdiction of Congress. War defensive or aggressive. Property of Neu- 
 trals 64 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 
 Armies. Appropriation of Money for them Biennial. The United States 
 disliked by Monarchs. Necessity of Protection. Navy. Not exactly 
 needed for the Protection of Commerce. The Hanse Towns without a 
 Navy. Land and Naval Forces. Militia. Crimean War. Serf Sol- 
 di erSp Discipline. Training of the Militia. -Equal confidence in Con- 
 gress as in State Governments. Christian brotherly Love. Priests.. .67 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 District of Columbia. Exclusive Legislation over it and Forts, Magazines, 
 Arsenals, Dock-yards. Paris. German Diet in a Free City. Legis- 
 lative Powers concerning all National Business. Sophists and Cavil- 
 lers 70 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 Interpretation of the Grant. Congress, the Agent of the People, who re- 
 main the Proprietors. Rights of Self-government. National Bank. 
 Precedents. Shoemaking in Time of War. Expediency. National 
 Banks in England, France, Russia, Austria, Prussia. Public Debts. 
 Washington. Jackson. Good Temper in Public Affairs. Pulpit. 
 Ladies... 71 
 
16 CONTENTS. 
 
 LETTER XVI. 
 
 Migration and Importation of Persons. Importation of Slaves declared 
 Piracy. Slave Labor, disposing of, in the States. Habeas Corpus. 
 Rebellion. Invasion. Middle Ages. Rogues. Charles I. Attain- 
 der and " Ex-Post-Facto" Bills. Habeas Pursam 74 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 Negative Provisoes. Capitation Tax. Free Commerce and Navigation 
 between States. Appropriation Laws. Title of Nobility. Presents 
 to Officials from Foreign Princes 76 
 
 LETTER XVIII. 
 
 Checks upon State Legislation in regard to Treaties. Alliance. Money 
 of Metal and Paper. Attainder. Ex-post-facto Laws. Contracts. 
 Nobility. English Banking. State Banks. Merchants make their own 
 Paper Money. Clearinghouses. Political Defaulters. Homes, where 
 best 78 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 Honesty. Checks upon State Legislation in regard to Imports, Duties, 
 Exports (under control of Congress), Tonnage, Soldiers, Navy, Treaties, 
 War. German National Congress at Frankfort. Greek- Confedera- 
 tions. United States and States separate Business Concerns. Wicked 
 Men. Well-informed Women 79 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 Executive. President. Vice-President. Their Election. Term of 
 Four Years. No Titles. Santa Anna. Vulgar Political Papers. 
 Respect of Public Officers. English Grumbling. Second Term. 
 Swiss Presidential Election , 82 
 
 LETTER XXI. 
 Electors. How Chosen. Qualification of Presidential Candidates 84 
 
 LETTER XXII. 
 
 Presidents advanced in Age. Mrs. Phelps. Mrs. Strickland. Mrs. 
 Willard. Mrs. Howe. Mrs. Hale. Presidential Vacancy. Acting 
 President. Non-election. Salar}-. Honesty of the American Presi- 
 dents. Oath. Spirit of Urbanity 86 
 
 LETTER XXIII. 
 
 Presidential Functions. Commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy and 
 Militia. Opinions of the Heads of the Departments. Reprieves. 
 Pardons. The Union a Government, no League. Prompt Protection 
 analogous to Police. State Governors Commanders-in-chief. Treaties. 
 
CONTENTS. 17 
 
 Consent of two-thirds of the Senate. Jefferson. Hamilton. Re- 
 moval from Office. Treaty with France. French and English Alli- 
 ance. Slave Treaty. Vacancies 88 
 
 LETTER XXIV. 
 
 Messages. Ambassadors. Commissions. Chateaubriand. Impeach- 
 ment of President, Vice-President, and other Officers, for Treason, Bribery, 
 or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors. Pensions 92 
 
 LETTER XXV. 
 
 Officers, their desire to earn Money like the rest. Parties kept together by 
 monied Interest. Majority in Elections. Right to the Spoils. Oppo- 
 sition to the Party in Power. Court Favor in Monarchies. Election Ex- 
 penses. Difficulties in filling Offices. Catherine de Med'icis. Chancel- 
 lor Hopital. Selling of Offices. Swiss sell Offices. Self-government 
 curtails Offices. Paul. Parties outside the Constitution. Platforms. 
 Logrolling. Party should cease in Congress when sworn in. Presiden- 
 tial Patronage. Political Martyrs a Nuisance. Factitious Speaking. 
 Demagogues. American Women. Benjamin Franklin. Office-seek- 
 ing 94 
 
 LETTER XXVI. 
 
 Judiciary. Supreme Court. Inferior Courts. Salaries. Appointed 
 during Good Behavior. Judiciary a Product of State. Elective Judges 
 inclining to favor Mobism. Public Morals under an Elective Judiciary . 96 
 
 LETTER XXVII. 
 
 National Judicial Business. Court of Claims. Checks upon State Wars . 98 
 
 LETTER XXVIII. 
 
 National original Jurisdiction. Appellate Jurisdiction. Sovereign Scru- 
 ples. Jurisdiction makes no Subjects. Jury Trial of Crimes. Place of 
 Trial. Abolitionists. Magna Charta. Runneymede 101 
 
 LETTER XXIX. 
 
 Treason, no Attainder. Forfeiture. Kansas. Utah. Madness, its fair 
 play. Rebellion. Vigilance Committees. Major Andre". Washing- 
 ton and his Steward. Justice 103 
 
 LETTER XXX. 
 
 Public Faith. Natural Rights of Citizens. Acts. Records. States are 
 exclusive. Clanish Nationalities. Union Sentiments. Privileges and 
 Immunities Mutual. Missouri Compromise. Fugitives from Justice, 
 their Extradition. Treaties. Mutual Control shared by the Women. 
 Sharpe's Rifles. Slip-shod Sermons 105 
 
18 CONTENTS. 
 
 LETTER XXXI. 
 
 Man given to Lying. Imperfect Laws. Force opposed to Law. Fugi- 
 tives from Service and Labor, their Extradition. Apprentices. Sailors. 
 
 Bound Laborers. Claim upon them for Outlay, to be respected and 
 protected by all Civil Governments. Property-right to Labor-forces. 
 Its Market Price. Property-right of Parents to the Use of the Labor- 
 forces of their Children. Bound Labor is Personal, Serfdom is Glebose. 
 Abolition Agitation is Glebose. Englishmen and Russians are Glebose. 
 Territorial Feudal Rights. Free Labor-force, increased by Migration. 
 
 Gradually extending South. Seigneurs. Manor-born Subjects. 
 Labor in Spain and Portugal and the Southern States. Jamaica. Few 
 real Free Men. Immense Number of Laws. Europeans are Subjects 
 or Matter. Captain Ingraham. Austrian Emperor. English King in 
 the War of 1812. English Abolitionism explained. American Society 
 Africanized by Abolition of Slavery. Duke of Southerland. Property 
 in Man. Men of Property. Loafers. Hereditary Governments. 
 France. Subordinate Races. Difference between Monarchies and Re- 
 publics. Industry of the Southern People. Savage Men, their Training 
 by Industry. Manumission of Bound Laborers. Serfs sold with Prop- 
 erty, and belong to it. Judge Loring. Travelling with Bound Servants. 
 
 Africa no Place forCulturing their Savage Inhabitants. Not improved 
 by the Greeks and Romans. Frenchmen. Bound Labor is under Mu- 
 nicipal Government. A Bound Laborer is no Citizen. Territories. 
 Missouri Line. District of Columbia. Fanaticism in Law-making. 
 Party Press. Boston Journal in favor of Constitutional Monarchy. 
 Canadian Paper prognosticating the end of the Union. Nobility after 
 Abolition of Bound Labor. King Bomba, Emperors of France, and 
 Austria, and Hayti. Boston Notions. American Women 108 
 
 LETTER XXXII. 
 
 Annexation of Texas. Portentous in regard to the Union. New States. 
 Their Admission into the Union. Territory. Land Surveying. Indian 
 Territory. Indian Agents. Indemnification. Selling of Land. Cul- 
 ture of Indians impossible in their own Country. ? Acquisition of Foreign 
 Country. Florida. Louisiana. Mexico. Division of States. Over- 
 grown Municipal States, as New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania. Mutual 
 Control and Power of Self-government lost therein. France. Monar- 
 chies with blended National and Municipal Business. Increase of Free 
 States compared with that of Slave States 118 
 
 LETTER XXXIII. 
 
 Territories. Their Disposal and Regulation. Three Periods. Indian 
 Policy. Territorial Policy. State Policy. Kansas Nebraska Act. 
 Missouri Compromise not Constitutional. Dred Scott Case 122 
 
 LETTER XXXIV. 
 
 Guaranty of a Republican Form of Government. Protection against In- 
 vasion and Domestic Violence. Switzerland. Hanse Republics. 
 
CONTENTS. 19 
 
 Monarchs. Greeks. King Philip. Amphyctionic Congress. Euro- 
 pean Opinion of the American Political System. "Rev. T. S. Hughes's 
 Opinion. Dangers of our Republic to the whole World 126 
 
 LETTER XXXV. 
 
 Amending the Constitution. Check upon large States. Public Debts. 
 Supreme Law of the Land. Higher Law Reveries. Religious and 
 Moral Precepts. Channing. Philosophical Opinions and Truths, no 
 Law. Sharpe's Rifles 128 
 
 LETTER XXXVI. 
 
 Official Oath. Religious Test abolished. Party. Unconstitutional Plat- 
 forms. Sliding Constitutions or Platforms. Perjury. Chaplains. 
 Object of Religion. Separation of Religion from the State. E Pluribus 
 Unum. Norvus Ordo Seculorum Religious Intolerance. Ratification 
 by a Majority of the States. No Preference of, or Difference between, 
 the Old and New States 130 
 
 LETTER XXXVII. 
 
 Exceptions and Mob Commotions against the Constitution. Bill of Rights. 
 Amendments. Religious Establishment. Freedom of Speech and of 
 the Press. Assembling. Petition. Great Britain. Municipal Le- 
 gislation. Right to bear Arms. European Legislation. Municipal. 
 District of Columbia. Quartering of Soldiers in Time of Peace. 
 Unreasonable Searches in Houses. Grand jury Indictment. Double 
 Trials Process of Law. Private Property for Public Use. Muni- 
 cipal Legislation. Speedy Public Trial by Jury. Witnesses. Coun- 
 sel. Trial by Jury in $20 Cases. Blackstone. Excessive Bail. 
 Enumeration of Certain Rights. Powers reserved to the States. Ex- 
 tension of the Judicial Power. Electors. Presidents compared with 
 Crowned Heads. Executive. Judiciary compared with the Legislative 
 Branch. Stability of the Federal Constitution 132 
 
 LETTER XXXVIII. 
 
 Washington's Letter to Congress with the Constitution. Duties of Con- 
 federated States and Individuals. Consolidation of the Union. Spirit 
 of Amity and Mutual Deference. Marriage. No Industry secure with- 
 out the Political Organization of Society 136 
 
 LETTER XXXIX. 
 
 Committees. Appointed in the House by the Speaker, in the Senate by 
 Ballot. The Committee of Ways and Means. Standing Committees. 
 Select Committees. Committee of the Whole Three times Read- 
 ing of Bills. Massachusetts. Twenty-nine Standing Committees. 
 Accusations of Fraud, Corruption, Bribery. Judiciary. English Cus- 
 tom... ..138 
 
20 CONTENTS. 
 
 LETTER XL. 
 
 Knowledge. Commerce. Money. Cotton. Business is King. Politi- 
 cal Business. Politicians. Statesmen. Genuine and Bogus Politics. 
 Commander Maury's Letters. Dead Sea. Telescopes. Camels. 
 Whales. Patents. Patriotism. Hard Times. High Salaries. 
 Scarcity of Talent. Consolidating Cities. Political and Private, or 
 Free Non-political Business. What it is. French Emperor. Pennsyl- 
 vania selling State Works. General Welfare. Canals. Competition. 
 
 Railroads. Public Debts. National Political Business. Congress. 
 
 Representative System. Municipal Political Business. State Legis- 
 lature. Executive. Judiciary. Organizer. Subdivisions. Coun- 
 ties. Towns. Representative. Counties. Political County Busi- 
 ness. Legislative. Executive. Judicial. Overseer. Supervisor. 
 
 .County Court. Representative. Townships. Political Town Busi- 
 ness. Threefold. Mayor. Aldermen or Selectmen. Democratic 
 Representative. Working Districts. State Failure. Self-taxation. 
 Hamburg. Cities. Villages. Size of States, Counties, Towns. 
 Philadelphia. New York. Centralization. Mutual Control. Euro- 
 pean Large Places. Monarchy. Its Philosophy and Substance. Japa- 
 nese Cities. Commodore Perry's Report. Hakodadi. Political Arith- 
 metic and Geometry. Measure for Private Affairs. Crisis. Crash 
 of the Largest Business Concerns. Size of State Confederations. 
 Congress meddling with Non-political and Municipal Local Business. 
 
 American Ladies. Character of Free Non-political Business. 
 Science, Arts, Culture, Religion, Commerce. Society Progressive. 
 States Protective. Monroe Doctrine. Licenses. Liberty of Industry 
 in China, Japan, European States. Publius. Cantons in Switzerland. 
 
 Republics, when consolidated Monarchy. Great Britain consolidated 
 England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales. Mr. D'Israeli. Napoleon III. 
 Missouri Compromise. Division of States. Stability of Govern- 
 ment 140 
 
 LETTER XLI. 
 
 Election Impulses. Social Movements organized in the United Sta'es, 
 Health producing. Social Movements in Eunjpe destructive. Famine, 
 Gold, Conquest, Religion, Liberty. Main Social-Impulses. Liberty- 
 Inipulse of the Republican Party. American Party acting unimpulsive. 
 
 Dear Union-Impulse of the Democratic Party 158 
 
 LETTER XLII. 
 
 Declaration of Independence. Defining of the Position of the Young Na- 
 tion. Explanation of the Sentence, " that all men are born equal." 
 Jefferson's Letter explaining it 161 
 
 LETTER XLIII. 
 
 Federalist. Hamilton. Monroe. Jay. Washington's Circular Letter 
 to the Governors of the several States. Articles of Confederation a loose 
 
CONTENTS. 21 
 
 Wickerwork. Enviable National and Political Condition of the Citizens 
 of America. Civilization. A Compact Indissoluble Union, a Sacred 
 Regard to Public Justice, a Proper Peace Establishment, a Good Friendly 
 Mutual Feeling among the People, the Four Essential Things to the Well- 
 Being, Existence, and Independent Power of the United States. Liberty 
 is the Basis of the Whole. Crisis, Political and Monetary 166 
 
 LETTER XLIV. 
 
 Defenders of the Country. Popularity. Citizen-soldier. Standing-Ar- 
 my-Soldier. Washington. Frederick. Napoleon. Conquest. 
 Vain-glory. Universal Peace. Dualistic Nature of Man. Farewell 
 Orders to the Armies by Washington. Review of the Past Struggle. 
 Conduct for the Future 170 
 
 LETTER XLV. 
 
 Washington elected President. Organization of the General Government. 
 
 Retires from the Presidency. His Farewell Address to the People of 
 the United States, Sept. 17, 1796 173 
 
 LETTER XLVI. 
 
 The Prince by Macchiavelli. Parallel between the Farewell Address and 
 the Prince. Prof. Lieber. Anti- Macchiavelli by Frederick the Great. 
 
 The Barbarians in Italy. Difference between the American and Euro- 
 pean State-systems. Legitimacy. Congress of Vienna 191 
 
 PART. II. MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 Object of a State Constitution. Introduction to the Constitution of the 
 State of New York. Preamble. Union-Slighting 203 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 Bill of Rights. Peers. Jury. Disagreeing. Acquittals. Liberty of 
 Conscience and Worship. Habeas Corpus. Injunctions. Bail. 
 Grand Jury. Protection of Private Property. Pauperism. Char- 
 ity 206 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 Compensation for Private Property when taken for Public Use. Roads. 
 Liberty of the Press. Libels. Assembling and Petition Right. 
 Divorce. Lottery. Escheats. Feudal Tenures. Allodiums. Leases 
 of Land. Fines. Quarter - Sales. Indian Land - Sales. Common 
 
22 CONTENTS. 
 
 Law. Colonial Law. Royal British Grants. Property Laws. 
 American Common Law. Rights of Self-Government. Prohibition 
 of Foreign Laws. The Church Poor-Laws. State Scholars 213 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 Elective Franchise. Restrictions. Citizenship. Ballot. Family voting 
 right. Woman. Connecticut. Christianity. Polygamy. Utah. 
 Kansas Scandals 219 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 Legislature. Senate. Districts. Census. Apportionment. Assem- 
 bly Districts. Compensation. Civil Appointment. Congressional Of- 
 ficers. Election Time. Quorum. Journal. Originating of Bills. 
 Enacting Clause. Majority. Private Bills. Legislative Powers of the 
 Supervisors. County Election District. Family Census. France. 
 Connecticut. Aristotle. Greeks 223 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 Executive. Governor's Duties. Legislative Committees. Lieutenant- 
 Governor. Eligibility. Commander-in-Chief. Messages. Salary. 
 Navy. Army. Execution of Laws. President of the Senate. Re- 
 prieves. Pardon. Impeachment. Veto 232 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 Administrative. Secretary of State. Comptroller. Treasurer. At- 
 torney-General. Election. Salary. English Circumlocution. Proper 
 Administrators. American System. Representative and Non-Repre- 
 sentative Officers. State Engineer. Surveyor. Canal Commissioners. 
 
 State-Prison Inspectors.* Land Office. Canal Fund. Local In- 
 spectors 238 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 Judiciary. Impeaching. Court of Appeals. Supreme Court. Judi- 
 cial Districts. Salary. Election. Testimony. Removing. Vacan- 
 cies. Modes of appointing Judges 243 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 County Judge. Webster. Surrogate. Local Officers. Inferior Courts. 
 
 Justices of the Peace. Clerks. Files to be sent into the Court of 
 Appeals. Publication of Statutes. Code of Procedure. Tribunals 
 of Conciliation. Revising Laws. Systems of Judiciary 246 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 Remarks on the Organization of the Judiciary in States, Counties, and Towns 
 in general. English Judiciary. Bad Legislation. Daniel O'Connell. 
 
CONTENTS. 23 
 
 Aula Regis. Reform by the Federal Constitution. District, Circuit, 
 and Supreme Courts. Municipal Judicial Business, Civil or Criminal. 
 Its Distribution among Towns, Counties, and States. Abolition of the 
 present Single Judicial Offices.. Reasons for it. Webster. Moses. 
 Solon. Justinian. Napoleon I. Frederick II. Joseph II. Russell. 
 
 Thompson. Brady. Law : .251 
 
 LETTER XI. 
 
 Finance. Revenues of the State Canals. Sinking Fund. General Fund 
 Debt. State Stock Loaned to Incorporated Companies. Selling 
 Canals 256 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 Salt Springs. Appropriation Laws. State Credit. Borrowing Money. 
 
 Invasion. Debt Laws. Voting upon 260 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 Taxes. Voting on Debt and Tax Laws 262 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 Corporations. General Law. Banking Corporations. Suspension of 
 Payment. Registry of Bills. Paper Money. Insolvent Banks. 
 Boards. Conflict of State Laws, and the Federal Constitution, respecting 
 Banks of Issue. Paper and Metallic Money. Credit System. Agri- 
 culture. Hunt's Merchants' Magazine 263 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 Cities. Villages. History. Superceded by a Judicious Organization of 
 Towns and Counties. Saving of Taxes 270 
 
 LETTER XVI. 
 
 Education. Funds. Instruction. Communes. Girard. Peabody. 
 Cooper. Popular Education. Popular Sovereignty 272 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 Local Officers. Sheriffs' Clerks. County, City, Town, and Village Offi- 
 cers. Their Election. Vacancies. Political Year. Removal. 
 Vacant Offices. Metropolitan Police Law 276 
 
 LETTER XVIII. 
 
 Militia. Religious Denominations. Higher Law. Appointment of offi- 
 cers. Major-Generals. Commissary-General. Commission 279 
 
 LETTER XIX 
 
 Oaths. Test. Abuse of Oaths. Literal Interpretation. Scandal in 
 Courts.. ..281 
 
24 CONTENTS. 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 Amendments. Miscellaneous. Election Results in Regard to Migration. 
 Governor Hammond's Speech. Bound and Free Labor. Vox Populi. 
 
 Franklin 284 
 
 LETTER XXI. 
 
 Prisons. Penal Colonies on the Western Plains, in the Rocky Mountains. 
 Police. Prison Associations. Missionary Societies. Bible 289 
 
 LETTER XXII. 
 
 Large Cities. Baltimore, Maryland. Political History. The People 
 One Assembly. First Constitution, 1650. Extract. Voting. Slav- 
 ery. Abolition . Divided Legislature. Trouble. Revolution. Con- 
 stitution of 1776. Amended. Judiciary Appointed. Constitution of 
 1851. Elective Judiciary. Executive elected by Districts. City and 
 Country Jealousy. Cities Republics of the Middle Age. Feuds with 
 the Country Nobility. Free Cities of Germany. Switzerland. Large 
 American Cities. Their Separation from the Country. More such 
 Separations. Apathy and Disgust with the City Affairs. New Orleans. 
 
 Baltimore Vote on the Amending the Constitution. Hanse Towns. 
 Crimes of English Law. Macaulay. Atlantic Telegraph States.. . .294 
 
 LETTER XXIII. 
 
 Morals. Virtues and Vices. Material of History, Arts, Novels, Dramas, 
 Tragedies. Washington. Citizen Government. Military Govern- 
 ment. Priest Government. Mexico. The Canadas. British North- 
 west Territory. The Lord's Prayer. Conclusion 300 
 
PAET FIRST. 
 
 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 Introduction. Onuses of the Letters. Little Appreciation of the Federal 
 Constitution. The Church a Comforter, hut no Governor. Restoration 
 of the Authority of Law. Influence of Woman. Resistance against the 
 Execution of Laws. Vigilance Committees. Ten-Thousand-Dollar Sub- 
 scription for Rebellion in Kansas. Ancient Rome. Dangers to the 
 Constitution and Union. Articles of Confederation of 1777. New Con- 
 stitution for a Society of European Descendants, Africans, and Indians. 
 The Object, Union and an independent, poweiful National Government, 
 excluding all Municipal Affairs, Bond Labor included. The Contents in 
 Seven Articles. 
 
 MY DEAR CHILDREN: I have often thought of writing for 
 you, and perhaps others too, a kind of common-sense commentary 
 on the federal constitution ; and why ? Because I have too 
 many proofs that this organic law is not so well known and appre- 
 ciated as it deserves. In a conversation I once had with one of 
 our most patriotic men and writers, on the state of our turbulent, 
 growing public affairs, he said, " Nothing can save us but the 
 church." I have often inquired, in houses stocked with books, 
 for a copy of the federal constitution, but in vain ; there was 
 none. This justifies what I said. If the church is our help, 
 why set up a constitution at all? Why organize a state or Con- 
 gress ? Is not the church older than our Union ? Why has 
 the church never checked political corruption ? What society is 
 
 2 
 
26 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 losing by the bad administration of the laws, nnd excesses of par- 
 ties and factions, no church, Christian or not. can restore, unless 
 the church turns state. Keligion can comfort men when suffer- 
 ing from anarchy ; a Christian preacher may exhort rioters and 
 rebels to keep the peace : church organizations may charitably 
 lessen misery in civil commotions and war, but the church can 
 not do more. It can not re-establish justice or rule, without be- 
 coming state or government. An earnest and strong sense of 
 justice, strict fidelity to our constitutions, and a faithful, manly 
 execution of the laws in one word, the restoration of the sunken 
 authority of the laws alone can save our commonwealth. We 
 still have, for this purpose, patriotism, virtue, and honesty enough, 
 in the country. It only wants to be brought into activity. 
 
 I wish, besides, to make the powerful social influence of woman 
 available. When this influence upon society in general is regu- 
 lating, moderating, pacifying, and ennobling, why should woman 
 not exert a similar influence upon the public social affairs?* This 
 is impossible without a clear understanding of the objects, prin- 
 ciples, and provisions, of our supreme law of the land, the federal 
 constitution. To make it as plain as household words is the aim 
 of these letters which, however, have been written with due 
 regard to the constructions of the various departments of the gov- 
 ernment, and the academical and juridical commentaries. I have 
 consulted the best, and even maintained their own words in some 
 instances ; so you may be assured that I give you the constitution 
 and nothing but the constitution. Its general, thorough under- 
 standing, in our time, where it is so often misrepresented, and 
 even openly opposed by men of talents and learning, is most desi- 
 rable. All public affairs directly concern families, and hence the 
 private interests of families must necessarily suffer fiom bad 
 governing. 
 
 Look out what course the ship of state is taking! In the East, 
 men of parts are outraging, by their public speeches and behavior, 
 all sense of justice and propriety, and openly give their support to 
 resistance against the officers of the United kStates, so that the 
 troops have been ordered for their protection. This is ih j begin- 
 ning of the end of civil government. In the West, vigilance com- 
 mittees act as courts. Wealthy men subscribe ten thousand dollars 
 for rebellion, and associations furnish partisan voters and fighters 
 
INTRODUCTION. 27 
 
 for newly-settled territories. Powerful ancient Rome fell when 
 single citizens were rich enough to keep armies of their own, to 
 fight out their ambitious schemes. Our ten-thousand-dollar men 
 and associations are in the same manner undermining the stability 
 of our republic. 
 
 That this happens is not the fault of our institutions, or of the 
 federal constitution, but the effect of error and ignorance about it. 
 This constitution is the work of the best men America has pro- 
 duced ; it is the true native glory of our country, unsurpassed by 
 any products of indigenous art and skill, however useful and ex- 
 cellent in their way. This constitution has created our Union, the 
 parent of our immense commerce and gigantic industrial and social 
 progress. Our existence as a nation may be jeoparded by a few 
 errors about the meaning of our constitution, if taken hold of by 
 fanatics, parties, and factions. I shall dwell upon such errors, and 
 try to make them harmless by exposing the.plain truth, and shall 
 therefore be as practical as possible. 
 
 The convention elected by the thirteen states, in 1787, for the 
 purpose of projecting a new constitution for the United States, 
 existing as such under the celebrated articles of confederation of 
 November, 1777, had, for its material, a most peculiar society, 
 composed of European descendants, Africans, and American In- 
 dians. The first were the ruling race, open to increase by immi- 
 gration ; the second were domesticated as slaves, a few of whom 
 were then manumitted, open to increase by birth and slave impor- 
 tation ; the third were living in tribes, with chiefs, under the sur- 
 veillance and jurisdiction of the first, open to increase by territo- 
 rial acquisition. The convention had no power to alter this mate- 
 rial or the elements of society. Its only duty was to set up an 
 organic law by which the whole would form a more compact union, 
 represented by a more independent and powerful central govern- 
 ment than that established by the just-mentioned articles of con- 
 federation. 
 
 This body, therefore, had no pow T er to make provisions for gen- 
 eral reforms, municipal affairs, civil and criminal or police laws, 
 bills of rights, voting, religious, educational, scientific subjects, etc. 
 It had nothing to do with domestic affairs, concerning labor and 
 service for time or life. Those who say that the federal constitu- 
 tion, the product of this convention, has established bond labor 
 
28 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 or slavery, or is maintaining it, mistake it entirely, as will become 
 more evident later. 
 
 The great fundamental law is exceedingly simple, plain, and 
 short, and contains seven articles, with the following heads : 
 
 ARTICLE I. Of the Legislature. 
 
 ARTICLE II. Of the Executive. 
 
 ARTICLE III. Of the Judiciary-. 
 
 ARTICLE IV. Miscellaneous (relating to the validity of pub- 
 lic acts and records, the equal rights of citizenship, the treatment 
 of fugitives from justice and service, admission of new states, ad- 
 ministration of the territory, the guaranty of a republican form of 
 government). 
 
 ARTICLE V. Of Amendments. 
 
 ARTICLE VI. Miscellaneous (relating to public faith and 
 justice in regard to the war-debts, etc. ; declaring the constitution 
 the supreme law of the land ; to the general oath or affirmation 
 of all public officers, and members of Congress and legislatures ; 
 the abolishing of the religious test). 
 
 ARTICLE VII. Of the Ratification. 
 
 Of which more in my following letters. 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 The Constitution. Its Reading. Preamble. Short History of the Coun- 
 try. The Revolution. Necessity of a National Government. Greeks, 
 Romans, Germans, Italians. United States of America. Family, Tribe. 
 Constitution of the People, and not of the States. Object of the Con- 
 stitution. National, municipal, fre^e, non-political or private Affairs. 
 Justice. St. Paul's First Letter to Timothy. Common Defence. 
 Insubjection. Licentiousness. 
 
 IN the following letters I shall converse with you on the federal 
 constitution, section by section. Please imagine that you are at- 
 tending some lectures on this all-important subject. I hope it will 
 not be a tiresome labor for you to make, in this manner, the closer 
 acquaintance of a written work, which millions of free and happy 
 men are considering as a sacred legacy of George Washington 
 and his illustrious compatriots. 
 
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 29 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 " Preamble. "VVe, the people of the United States, in order to form a 
 more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for 
 the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings 
 of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Consti- 
 tution for the United States of America." 
 
 Preambles and prefaces are generally considered unprofitable 
 reading, especially by ladies ; but you must make an exception 
 with this preface. It closes the epoch in the history of our coun- 
 try from 1643 to 1787, which may be termed the time of incuba- 
 tion of our present Union. 
 
 After the colonists had opened the path for European culture 
 through the primitive American forests, erected towns where be- 
 fore stood wigwams, subdued powerful Indian tribes, and had in 
 those struggles for life and independence acquired the skill of self- 
 government, so easily lost in luxury and affluence, they felt the 
 necessity of a government of their own, and a union of their colo- 
 nial forces. Many attempts were made for this purpose, during 
 the period I have indicated, as you know from 'the history of the 
 United States. When the right time came to strike the blow, the 
 right men were at the head of the public affairs to secure success. 
 
 As the colonists always managed their municipal affairs them- 
 selves, under English governors, the question after the liberation 
 was to give a proper form and place to that part of the public 
 affairs which belong to a nation, and which were, with the usual 
 haughty, lordly spirit of a monarch, withheld by the English 
 crown. 
 
 If you throw a glance at the history of the world, you will dis- 
 cover that it is this kind of public business which has caused the 
 great revolutions and struggles for freedom. The ancient Greeks 
 managed their municipal affairs as well as we ours ; but they 
 never succeeded, although repeatedly trying it, in organizing the 
 national business well. They deserved, on this account, hardly 
 the name of a nation, and became therefore an easy prey to their 
 monarchical adversaries. The success of the Romans, on the 
 other hand, resulted from the strong consolidation of the national 
 affairs in Rome, similar to that of France in Paris. To set this 
 business right, the Germans revolted in 1848. The Italians are, 
 it is said, at the eve of a revolution for the same purpose. When 
 
30 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 it required, in the North American colonies, almost two hundred 
 years to realize a free, independent, stable government, among 
 men who were comparatively free, at least in regard to the man- 
 agement of their municipal affairs, how doubtful must be such 
 revolutions among people who, like the Spaniards or Italians, or 
 even the Germans, have been for centuries subject to strong 
 monarchical rulers ! 
 
 The colonies had, as early as 1778, adopted the appellation, 
 " UNITED STATES OF AMERICA." Still the present constitution, 
 although framed by a convention composed of delegates chosen by 
 the legislamres of the states, was ratified and adopted by the 
 people: hence the words, "We the people" that is, the aggre- 
 gate of families, forming society and nations. It makes, indeed, 
 but little difference whether this act of the free, independent peo- 
 ple is called a sovereign act or not. A nation, as such, is master 
 of its destiny. There is no society without a certain rule or 
 organization. Cannibals, also, obey their chiefs. The family 
 state is the beginning of social organization, and requires it for 
 the purposes of support and education. It is, within its domestic 
 limits, as independent as a nation within her political boundaries. 
 
 That the people, by their votes, and not by the states, have 
 adopted the constitution, is an important fact in regard to the va- 
 lidity of the covenant, because on this fact, not the state govern- 
 ments, not Congress, but only the people, have to decide. Mind 
 that no single state can leave the Union without the permission 
 of the whole people or nation. 
 
 The preamble expresses the main objects of the constitution. 
 First, A MORE PERFECT UNION. This was, as we have seen, most 
 desirable. The new state governments cleaved with the same 
 obstinacy to the national business as the English government, from 
 the fear that Congress might become too powerful ; from which 
 cause sprung up a separate p'arty, the republicans, opposing the 
 federalists. This fear is unfounded, if we concede to Congress 
 but national political business. You must remember that the 
 business managed by states or Congress is called political or pub- 
 lic business, which I shall, in a separate letter, endeavor clearly 
 to explain. This Union has now been, after much trouble and a 
 bloody war, achieved, by adopting the present constitution, which 
 gives to Congress the national business, leaving to the states the 
 
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 31 
 
 municipal, and to society, or the people at large, the free, non~ 
 political affairs to manage. 
 
 The declared aim of the constitution is, further, to ESTABLISH 
 JUSTICE. This is the supreme and ultimate object of all political 
 organizations. St. Paul, as you know from his first letter to 
 Timothy, had already said, " The law [or state] is not made for 
 the righteous, but for the lawless," etc. This means : if men would 
 always act right, there would be, of course, no need of states, Con- 
 gress, courts, sheriffs, troops, jails, etc. But this not being the 
 case, we have to organize society, in order to establish and realize 
 .justice, on account of the lawless, and thus INSURE DOMESTIC TRAN- 
 QUILLITY and PROMOTE THE GENERAL WELFARE. On this aCCOUnt, 
 
 Congress has also to take care for the COMMON DEFENCE. It is a 
 part and the consequence of the establishment of justice, and its 
 execution, at home and with regard to foreign nations. If all this 
 is well done, the BLESSINGS OF LIBERTY will most certainly be 
 secured to ourselves and our posterity; while the reverse, as 
 injustice and lawlessness; will sow the seeds of discord, civil com- 
 motions, general misery, and despotism. The blessings of liberty 
 consist chiefly in being unsubject that is, in full possession of 
 the rights of self-government, so that man is not hindered in 
 regard to his industrial pursuits, culture, and management of his 
 public affairs. No "organic law, that I am acquainted with, pro- 
 tects people in this regard better than our federal constitution. 
 For such a rational liberty, however, very few men comparatively 
 are yet prepared. The majority mistake liberty for licentiousness. 
 
 The men who framed this constitution could hardly have intro- 
 duced it by a better preamble. It shows best what a clear and 
 practical conception they had of their task. They have erected a 
 monument of their wisdom, which, although made for their time, 
 and the actual wants of their society, composed of very hetero- 
 geneous elements (Americans, Indians, Europeans, and Africans), 
 is, notwithstanding, a perfect pattern of an organic law for all 
 states and nations, as we shall often have opportunity to notice. 
 I promise you that you will admire it the more, the longer you 
 live. 
 
 This brings me to the end of my second letter, which I close 
 with the wish that it may give you a sharp appetite for the fol- 
 lowing. 
 
82 THE NATIONAL GOVEKNMENT. 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 Congress. Works in three Channels. Legislature. Grants. Repub- 
 lics. Monarchies. Government preservative, not progressive. Scar- 
 city of Solons. Senate and House of Representatives. Two-Chamber 
 System. Qualification of Members of the House of Representatives. 
 Voting and electing, a Right of Families. Congress biennial. Qualifica- 
 tion, twenty-five Years of Age. Negroes, their counting. Number of 
 Representatives. Census. Large Legislative Bodies. Vacancies filled 
 by the State Executive Action. Speaker. Impeachment. Importance 
 of the House of Representatives. Ladies. Decorum. 
 
 WE come now to the examination of the institution erected by 
 the constitution. It works in three divisions, called the legislative, 
 executive, and judiciary, which constitute the political institution 
 called United States. A similar fabric is that of a state ; also 
 the subdivisions of states, viz., counties and towns or townships, 
 work by these three channels. Properly speaking, the people, or 
 the aggregate of families, form society, and neither the states nor 
 the United States, which are separate institutions set up for the 
 benefit of society. But it is in common use to call society after 
 the names of the political divisions. You will, however, do well 
 to distinguish society from these political institutions, because, if 
 your mind is in the habit of doing so, you will readily distinguish 
 social rights and affairs, from political, and be able to judge with 
 precision on encroachments of governments especially of the 
 legislative branches on individual and social rights, to guard and 
 protect which is the duty of the political institutions. 
 
 ARTICLE I. 
 
 Of the Legislature. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 "All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of 
 the United States, which shall consist of a senate and house of represent- 
 atives." 
 
 Mind, now, that every word of the constitution is law. This 
 being the case, it was written by its authors with a care and clear- 
 
THE LEGISLATURE. 33 
 
 ness unsurpassed since by similar productions, which is one of the 
 causes why it has required but little or any amending during 
 eighty years. Legislative powers mean political business given 
 in trust to a legislative body. In the word " granted" is the main 
 difference between republics and monarchies. In the latter form 
 of government the management of the public affairs is claimed by 
 the princes as a property or crown right, coming directly from 
 God. Still originally both kinds of governments have only the 
 same business to do. 
 
 You will easily perceive that the debating on the laws by two 
 distinct houses is calculated to prevent inconsiderate arid hasty 
 legislation, one of the greatest social calamities. 
 
 The federal government is not intended to be a progressive 
 machinery, or to run a race with society, philosophers, and vision- 
 aries, but merely to conserve and protect the main object of all 
 governments. The progressive element belongs to society and 
 individuals, and never to state institutions, as many, especially 
 Europeans, think ; their office is to prevent confusion and embar- 
 rassments on the grand onward road of humanity. To frame for 
 this purpose laws is exceedingly difficult. There have been a 
 very few real Solons in the world. There are in our large nation 
 not a hundred men n't for legislating. Two legislative chambers 
 are considered sufficient to avoid errors in law-making nothing 
 to say here of the veto-power of the president. We have seen 
 that the senate in the Congress of 1856, checked the passage of 
 a clause in the army appropriation bill, repeatedly approved by 
 the majority of the house, which was an open violation of the 
 constitution, and which would have, if passed, annulled the army 
 and impeded the execution of the laws in Kansas, and jeoparded 
 the public peace there and the existence of the Union. 
 
 There are many men who pretend to be well informed, of the opin- 
 ion that a constitution is something like a vane, and open to all kinds 
 of interpretation,to suit people, just like the Bible ; but you will not 
 hesitate to consider this a mistake. The Bible is in itself no law, but 
 a mere book, written and suitable for all moral purposes of life, while 
 a constitution is an organizing law, made for a certain district and 
 for certain special purposes, and therefore subject to a limited or 
 circumscribed definite interpretation. It may be abused, like 
 everything, the Bible included, but should not be arbitrarily 
 
 2* 
 
84 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 interpreted by authority ; for there are certain rules established 
 for logical interpretation. These a jurist should know. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 "1. The house of representatives shall be composed of members chosen 
 every second year by the people of the several states ; and the electors in 
 each state shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most 
 numerous branch of the state legislature." 
 
 Very properly the constitution does not introduce a separate 
 form of voting, but leaves the states free to take care of this 
 business. But it is desirable that the laws on voting should be in 
 harmony with the rights of society. As society is composed of 
 families, it is but just that to these only, as the constituents of 
 society, belongs the right of voting and electing, or the suffrage 
 right. 
 
 The constitution presupposes that common sense, honesty, and 
 patriotism, found in all classes of society, may be considered by 
 the voters as the principal qualifications of their lawmakers, and 
 not property, professional requirements, or caste, as is the case in 
 Europe. The future will show whether the liberal, humane 
 spirit which pervades this document in this instance, and all others, 
 is right or not. No doubt that the voting laws, as I remarked, 
 and the salary of the legislators, the numbers of the members of 
 legislatures, and party and faction spirit, have an immense influ- 
 ence upon the working of legislatures, and may defeat the best 
 constitutions. It is therefore the duty of all good citizens to be 
 vigilant and understand the constitution well to prevent its abuse. 
 Our Congress is, as you see, biennial ; the British Parliament is 
 septennial. This long term favors aristocracy; the short term, 
 democracy. 
 
 " 2. No person shall be a representative who shall not have attained to 
 the age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of the United 
 States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state in 
 which he shall be chosen." 
 
 American society being partly a product of immigration, re- 
 quires laws in regard to the political qualifications of immigrants. 
 The seven years' citizenship belongs to this kind of legislation. 
 Official absence of a citizen does not deprive him of his rights as 
 a citizen of the state where he comes from. 
 
 "3. Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the 
 
REPRESENTATION. 35 
 
 several states which may be included within this Union, according to their 
 respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole 
 number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, 
 and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other persons. The 
 actual enumeration shaM be made within three years atter the first meeting 
 of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term of 
 ten years, in such a manner as they shall by law direct. The number of 
 representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but each state 
 shall have at least one representative ; and until such enumeration shall be 
 made, the state of New Hampshire shall be entitled to choose three ; Massa- 
 chusetts, eight ; Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, one ; Connecti- 
 cut, five; New York, six; New Jersey, four; Pennsylvania, eight; Dela- 
 ware, one ; Maryland, six ; Virginia, ten ; North Carolina, five, and Georgia, 
 three." 
 
 The representation and taxation ought to be regulated according 
 to the inhabitants of the several states, and not according to the 
 population of the United States. Those bound to service for a 
 number of years, as sailors, etc., ought to be counted. Indians 
 not taxed are excluded because they live in tribes, a kind of state. 
 The three fifths of all other persons are those bound to service for 
 life, or slaves, forming a distinct race not included within the regu- 
 lar political organization, like the before-mentioned Indian tribes. 
 
 The words "by adding three fifths of all other persons," are 
 wrongly understood by some commentators arid the abolition 
 party.- Their proper meaning, adopted by Congress, is that five 
 slaves count as but three persons, while five free negroes in free 
 states count as much, viz., five persons. Those free negroes do not 
 vote' themselves, but in making up the census they count like 
 white persons, while in a slave state five negroes pass only as 
 three persons. An example will show that this proviso is in favor 
 of the free states, and not in favor of the slave states. Suppose 
 there are in a free state 
 1,000,000 white and free colored persons, 
 
 100,000 servants or persons bound to service for a term of years, 
 
 this gives 
 
 1,100.000 whole number of free persons. 
 
 And in a slave state 
 1,000,000 white and free colored persons, 
 
 100,000 slaves counting only 
 60,000 after deducting two fifths, leaving 
 
 940,000 whole number of free persons. 
 
36 
 
 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Thus a slave state may lose by this operation one or more 
 representatives in Congress. It follows that this clause diminishes 
 in the slave states the " whole number " at the rate of two fifths 
 in regard to the slave population, compared with the free negroes 
 and whites elsewhere. The federal constitution is as liberal as 
 possible, and is only illiberally interpreted to please or suit parties. 
 
 When this clause was made by the convention there were more 
 inhabitants in the middle and southern states than in the eastern. 
 It would not be agreed to at present, because it deprives the slave 
 states of about thirty-five members in Congress. 
 
 The enumeration here mentioned is the business known by the 
 name of census. Congress, having nothing to do with municipal 
 affairs, has no interest to ascertain, for its own use, more than the 
 number of the inhabitants in order to control and regulate their 
 representation in Congress. 
 
 Still Congress has assumed the right to inquire every ten years 
 for everything people possess. There is no grant for that, and 
 wisely not, because it belongs to municipal governments to make 
 census for statistical purposes of this kind. It is supposed that a 
 statistical state census, by the agency of the well-informed town 
 officials, is more reliable than that made in the vast territory of 
 the United States by United States marshals, appointed every ten 
 years for this purpose at random. You see here how necessary is 
 a strict adherence to the words and spirit of the constitution. Its 
 framers were exceedingly careful not to interfere with the business 
 of states, counties, and towns. At present all states take from 
 time to time a census. Congress may be placed in possession of 
 the number of the state inhabitants at short notice by telegraph. 
 Of course the ratio of representation has been altered at each 
 census. The difference between the present time and that of the 
 constitution is interesting in regard to the progress of. the popula- 
 tion of the several states. 
 
 The electoral votes of the United States are at present as 
 follows : 
 
 Maine 8 Delaware 3 
 
 New Hampshire 5 Maryland 8 
 
 Vermont 5 Virginia 15 
 
 Massachusetts 13 North Carolina 10 
 
 Rhode Island 4 South Carolina 8 
 
 Connecticut 6 Georgia 10 
 
IMPEACHMENT. 
 
 37 
 
 Alabama 9 
 
 Mississippi 7 
 
 Louisiana 6 
 
 Kentucky 12 
 
 Tennessee /. 12 
 
 Missouri 9 
 
 Arkansas 4 
 
 Florida 3 
 
 Texas . . 4 
 
 New York 35 
 
 New Jersey 7 
 
 Pennsylvania 27 
 
 Ohio 23 
 
 Indiana 13 
 
 Illinois 11 
 
 Michigan 6 
 
 Iowa 4 
 
 Wisconsin . .' 5 
 
 California 4 
 
 The whole number is 296 ; 176 in the free states, and 120 in 
 the slave states. It shows a great preponderance of some states. 
 
 Large legislative bodies are useless for their proper purpose. 
 The proper legislative business of Congress has not increased with 
 the population, because it is national, not local. The grants of 
 the constitution remain to-day what they were eighty years ago. 
 The same wisdom which was required then to make the laws for 
 the carrying out of the constitution is sufficient at present for the 
 same purpose. The more state governments the less territorial 
 Congressional business. It is different with the finance and the 
 executive. Upon the administration of the laws the increase of 
 population has some influence also in the Union. That our senate 
 is a more respectable body than the house is owing to its smaller 
 number. We have few fit men to fill our overnumerous legislative 
 bodies. The house of representatives would answer better to its 
 purpose if composed of the same or only double the number of 
 the senate. Large legislative bodies become invariably corrupt 
 and turbulent. 
 
 " 4. When vacancies happen in the representation from any state, the exec- 
 utive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill up such vacancies." 
 
 Here also the constitution leaves the care of the elective busi- 
 ness to the state governments ; who, acting not in an understand- 
 ing with each other, differ in regard to the mode of filling vacan- 
 cies. In states where an absolute, majority is required for an 
 election often much delay is caused. 
 
 " 5. The house of representatives shall choose their speaker, and other 
 officers, and shall have the sole power of impeachment." 
 
 Impeaching means accusing for official malversation. You will 
 learn later that the senate is the court of impeachment. All offi- 
 cers, the president included, being responsible or accountable, there 
 must be a court and an impeacher or accuser. Jn choosing the 
 
38 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 speaker the absolute majority rule has been adopted, that is, the 
 candidate must get the absolute or real and not merely the relative 
 majority. This rule presents no difficulty if there are but two 
 candidates. But in the reverse case the election may remain for 
 weeks and months doubtful, as we have witnessed several times. 
 There should be a remedy for such delay which is merely owing to 
 party. The power of impeachment, though rarely effectively used 
 is yet an important check upon the judicial and executive officers. 
 
 These few provisions form the basis of the organization of the 
 house of representatives of the Congress of the United States, one 
 of the most august legislative bodies in the world, not excepting 
 the English parliament, because it is the most independent legis- 
 lative assembly, whose character and authority is entirely its own 
 work. This, according to all appearances, the members of this 
 house, alas, too often forget. The sessions being public and the 
 debates promptly divulged by the press, the influence of the con- 
 duct of their members upon the morals of the people and upon the 
 authority of the government at home and abroad must be immense. 
 
 We will still hope that the honest noble zeal with which George 
 Washington labored in legislative bodies for society, may serve in 
 the future as an example for all representatives. 
 
 Excuse me, my dear children, if I should not treat my subject 
 pleasantly enough. But before I conclude this epistle, I can not 
 repress the remark that the influence of tlve ladies upon these as- 
 semblies in regard to decorum, may be more effective than the 
 most stringent laws, provided they are well informed of the actual 
 duties of the legislators. 
 
THE SENATE. 39 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 Senate. Organization. Each Senator has one Vote. No Right of the 
 State to instruct them. Election by the States. One third of the Sen- 
 ators to be chosen every second Year. Temporary Appointments. Age 
 of thirty Years. Vice President, President of the Senate. Impeach- 
 ment. Election. Annual Sessions of Congress, and the Parliament in 
 Great Britain. Difference between Congress and the House of Parlia- 
 ment in Great Britain. Senate an executive Council. British private 
 Council. 
 
 WE come now to the senate, whose members, from old Roman 
 recollections, represent themselves to our mind as a grave and 
 awe-inspiring assemblage of Solons. Let us see what the consti- 
 tution provides about them. 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 "1. The senate of the United States shall be composed of two senators 
 from each state, chosen by the legislature thereof, for six years, and each sen- 
 ator shall have one vote." 
 
 This plainly shows that the senators vote and act as individuals, 
 because each has one vote. They have not to vote in the name 
 of the state who elects them. Having no peerage, as the English, 
 to form a house of lords, this mode of electing a second chamber 
 of the national legislature, was adopted as the best. It is even 
 against the tenor of this proviso that state governments may in- 
 struct the senators how to vote. As the law stands, one may vote 
 for or against a measure, as he thinks best. The mode of election 
 is again left with the state government ; it is, generally, done by 
 joint ballot of both houses of the state legislature, who serve here 
 merely as electors, and not as legislators or instructors as to what 
 shall be done in Congress. There is nothing to do by Congress 
 except the carrying out of the powers specified by the constitution. 
 Petitions and memorials may serve to inform the members of the 
 wishes of the citizens. The states, as such, have no influence 
 upon the business of Congress, just as the Congress has none upon 
 the administration of the states. 
 
 " 2. Immediately after they shall be assembled, in consequence of the first 
 
40 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 election, they shall be divided as equally as may be, into three classes. Tho 
 seats of the senators of the first class, shall be vacated at the expiration of 
 the second year, of the second class at the expiration of the fourth year, and 
 of the third class at the expiration of the sixth year, so that one third may 
 be chosen every second year, and if vacancies happen by resignation or other- 
 wise during the recess of the legislature of any state, the executive thereof 
 may make temporary appointments until the next meeting of the legislature, 
 which shall then fill such vacancies." 
 
 "3. No person shall be a senator who shall not have attained to the age 
 of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United States, and who 
 shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state for which he shall be 
 chosen." 
 
 " 4. The vice-president of the United States shall be president of the sen- 
 ate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided." 
 
 All these are plain provisions. The vice-president has a cast- 
 ing vote, as it is called ; he may become president in case of va- 
 cancy. This is the reason why he is elected by the people. 
 
 " 5. The senate shall choose their other officers, and also a president pro- 
 tempore, in the absence of the vice-president, or when he shall exercise the 
 office of president of the United States." 
 
 This also is plain, and it remains a great desideratum that the 
 speaker of the house of representatives also should not be entirely 
 dependent upon the absolute majority vote. The house has the 
 right to make the necessary rules in this regard. 
 
 " 6. The senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments, when 
 sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation. When the pres- 
 ident of the United States is tried the chief justice shall preside; and no per- 
 son shall be convicted without the concurrence of two thirds of the members 
 present." 
 
 The president of the supreme court takes the place of the vice- 
 president, on account of his right to succeed the president in case 
 of vacancy. 
 
 "7. Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than re- 
 moval from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, 
 trust, or profit, under the United States, but the party convicted shall never- 
 theless be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment, and punishment, 
 according to law." 
 
 This all is plain. 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 "1. The times, places, and manner of holding elections for senators and 
 representatives shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof; 
 but the Congress may, at any time, by law, make or alter such regulations, 
 except as to the places of choosing senators." 
 
TIME OF MEETING. 41 
 
 This clause empowers Congress to control the state govern- 
 ments to prevent factitious legislation, interfering with the activity, 
 and even existence of Congress. 
 
 "2. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such 
 meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall, by law, 
 appoint a different day." 
 
 This clause requires no explanation. 
 
 The framers of the Constitution have, in a certain measure, 
 imitated the English parliament, which is also divided into two 
 houses, one of the commons, the other of the peers those are 
 created by privilege, the commoners are elected. The great dif- 
 ference between this parliament and our Congress is not in names, 
 but in business. The English parliament is the national and 
 municipal legislature, uniting within itself that business which 
 priorly belonged to the kingdoms (and parliaments) of England, 
 Scotland, Ireland^ and Wales ; our Congress is only the national 
 legislature, equally divided between the senate and house of 
 representatives. The senate, however, serves also as an execu- 
 tive council of the president, for like purposes a separate body 
 under the name of privy council, exists in Great Britain. The 
 fewer members of the senate have therefore more business to per- 
 form, than the larger number of members of the house. Having 
 now never heard a complaint that there are too few senators for 
 their business, it follows that the number of the members of the 
 house may be profitably curtailed for the better despatch of the 
 legislative business. The house began working with sixty mem- 
 bers, a grent advantage for the Union. Our Congress does not, 
 as the English parliament, represent local interests, privileges, 
 castes, classes, clergy, crown-rights, etc., but has only to mind that 
 business which is clearly defined and expressly granted to it by 
 the Constitution ; the responsibility of both houses is alike ; they 
 control and check each other, to avoid errors in law-making. 
 Thus there is some likeness in the external form of our Congress 
 with that of the British parliament, but their proper business, 
 legislative duties, and responsibility, differ widely. This difference 
 should caution us not to adopt or imitate English laws. 
 
 All these provisoes are just and plain, and necessary for the 
 activity and stability of Congress. We shall soon come to more 
 interesting subjects. 
 
42 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 Election Returns. Quorum. Order of Sessions. Rules of Proceedings. 
 Decorum. Expelling of Disorderly Members. Journal. Yeas and 
 Nays. Factitious Legislation should be Rt-sented. Adjournment. 
 Compensation. Privileged from Arrest. No Questioning for any 
 Speech. Speeches for Party Purposes. Members of Congress ex- 
 cluded from Offices. Exalted Mission of Congress. Influence of Ladies. 
 
 WE have to examine the framework of our political national 
 fabric a little longer. 
 
 SECTION v, 
 
 Contains dispositions which may be adapted to all kinds of 
 meetings, for church or charitable purposes. 
 
 " 1. Each house shall be the judge of the elections, returns, and qualifica- 
 tions of its own members, and a majority of each shall constitute a quorum 
 to do business ; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may 
 be authorized to compel the attendance of absent members in such manner 
 and under such penalties as each house may provide." 
 
 The majority must govern ; this requires a proviso for a working 
 number or quorum. This proviso prevents the minority from doing 
 business, and sufficiently proves the independence of our national 
 legislature. In Europe generally the governments prescribe the 
 rules of the houses, qualifications, etc. 
 
 "2. Each house may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its 
 members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two thirds, 
 expel a member." 
 
 Members of the American Congress should never be guilty of 
 indecorous behavior. It must have caused pain to George 
 Washington to admit this clause and subscribe it as a president of 
 the convention. The debates about the political business granted 
 to Congress should be of the most courteous, dignified, and temper- 
 ate kind. The houses, of course, have also the right to resent con- 
 tempts, the same as the courts. They have even extended their 
 power to punish disorderly behavior for offences not committed as 
 senators or representatives, which were considered entirely incon- 
 sistent with the senatorial dignity and trust. There seems to be 
 
COMPENSATION. 43 
 
 then no lack of laws to prevent, or punish such disgraceful scenes, 
 which we witness so often in Congress and out of it, wherein 
 members of Congress are the actors. But laws make no gentle- 
 men, good mothers do. 
 
 "3. Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings,' and from time to 
 time publish the same, excepting such parts as may, in their judgment, re- 
 quire secrecy ; and the yeas and nays of the members of either house, on 
 any questions shall, at the desire of one fifth of those present, be entered on 
 the journal." 
 
 This proviso shall render the members of Congress more mind- 
 ful of their responsibility. Suppose a faction in Congress would 
 refuse the constitutional appropriation for an established branch of 
 the government, as for instance, the army or navy, on mere party, 
 that is, private or factitious grounds, and not on national grounds, 
 all those who should be injured by such an act may claim damages 
 from the United States ; which, in their turn, should take recourse 
 against such factitious members of Congress proved as such by 
 their votes, and the journals of the respective houses. The exist- 
 ence of the people in the United States, as a nation, may be 
 jeoparded by factitious legislation. As the executive is amenable 
 to the law and subject to impeachment, so ought to be factitious 
 members of legislatures responsible with their persons and prop- 
 erty for their participation in unconstitutional and injurious legis- 
 lation not guided by justice. Hence the necessity of recording the 
 yeas and nays. 
 
 " 4. Neither house, during the session of Congress shall, without the con- 
 sent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place 
 than that in which the two houses shall be sitting." 
 
 By this clause the members of Congress are kept sedate and at 
 work. 
 
 SECTION VI. 
 
 " 1. The senators and representatives shall receive a compensation for their 
 services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the treasury of the United 
 States. They shall, in all cases except treason, felony, and breach of the 
 peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of 
 their respective houses, and in going to and returning from the same ; and for 
 any speech or debate in either house, they shall not be questioned in any 
 other place/' 
 
 The usual compensation of $8 per day, besides a mileage to the 
 seat of Congress, going and returning, has been changed of lute 
 
44 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 to an annual salary of $3000 per member. It will make the 
 sessions shorter and the despatch of business slower. The more 
 lucrative the seats in a legislature are, the more they will be 
 coveted and abused by mere speculators. I remarked in another 
 place that there are exceedingly few persons fit for this business. 
 This kind of business should be made as little attractive as possi- 
 ble. The less tampering with the laws the better. Our strength 
 is not in laws but in virtue and self-control, superseding political 
 laws. 
 
 The privilege of speech and debate refers merely to the act of 
 delivery. If a member of Congress publishes a speech, and it 
 contains a libel, he is liable for it. There should be but little 
 speech-making in such a legislature as Congress, where certain 
 delegated business is to be performed, and not, as in Great Britain, 
 a lordly king and a proud wealthy aristocracy is to be kept eternally 
 in check. You may easily observe that almost all speeches, the 
 maiden speeches included, in Congress, are made for party and 
 personal purposes, not required by the actual business. Such 
 harangues and oratorical feats may be in place in Great Britain, 
 where society is subject, all popular rights must be conquered, and 
 the crown has been, by the law of inheritance, in the possession of 
 an immense executive power and patronage since time immemorial. 
 But with all such things, no one in Congress has anything to do. 
 There all is plain, settled, prescribed business. Nobody can en- 
 tertain any serious doubts about it ; and if this should be the case, 
 the United States supreme court is authorized to settle the ques- 
 tion. For what purpose are then with us bitter and angry ha- 
 rangues ? The constitution gives no cause for them, our best public 
 men have never indulged in them. As our form of government 
 differs from the forms of European governments, so should our 
 manner of managing public affairs differ from theirs. Ours should 
 be plain, business-like, and free of rhetoric bombast, passionate and 
 violent language. It will be the case if the public, and especially 
 the ladies, condemn this style. 
 
 " 2. No senator or representative shall, during the time for which he was 
 elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the United 
 States, which shall have been created, or the emoluments whereof shall have 
 been increased during such time ; and no person holding any office under the 
 United States, shall be a member of either house during his continuance in 
 office ." 
 
BILLS. 45 
 
 The second part of this proviso is peculiarly American, for in 
 all European constitutional states the state officers, ministers of the 
 crown included, are elective or official members of the parliaments. 
 This renders our Congress the more independent, and therefore 
 alone responsible for their acts. What a most enviable position 
 for a real good national legislature ! 
 
 Let us pause here a little, and indulge in the hope that our Con- 
 gress will become more and more true to its exalted mission, de- 
 lineated in so masterly a manner in this beautiful organic law. 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 Bills of Revenue in both Houses. British Imitation. Veto. All Presi- 
 dents have used it. Its Advantages in Regard to Factitious Legislation. 
 Repassing Bills. Punishment of Unconstitutional Legislation. Two- 
 third Vote. Parties. How to get an Office. Electors. Political 
 Brokers. '.Strict Morality in obtaining Offices nowhere. How they are 
 bestowed in Monarchies and Republics. Faction, its Danger. Aboli- 
 tionists a Faction. Custom in England that Ministers resign when de- 
 feated in Parliament, to be imitated in the United States. 
 
 THE following section shows how the congressional laws are 
 made by propositions or bills : 
 
 SECTION VII. 
 
 " 1. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the house of representa- 
 tives ; but the senate may propose or concur with amendments, as on other 
 bills." 
 
 This is an imitation of the British parliament. In practice, it 
 is confined to bills for levying taxes, and not to other bills which 
 may indirectly produce a revenue, as laws concerning the mint, 
 postoffice department, public'lands, etc. 
 
 " 2. Every bill which shall have passed the house of representatives and 
 the senate shall, before it become a law, be presented to the president of the 
 United States. If he approve, he shall sign it ; but if not, he shall return it, 
 with his objections, to that house in which it shall have originated, who shall 
 enter the objections at large on their journal, and proceed to reconsider it. 
 If, after such reconsideration, two thirds of that house shall agree to pass the 
 bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other house, by 
 which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approve/I by two thirds of that 
 
46 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 house, it shall become a law. But in all such cases the votes of hoth houses 
 shall be determined by yeas and nays ; arid the names of the persons voting 
 for and against the bill shall be entered on the journal of each house respect- 
 ively. If any bill shall not be returned by the president within ten days 
 (Sundays exceptcd) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall 
 be a law in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their 
 adjournment prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law." 
 
 This proviso, which creates the veto-power of the president, and 
 defines the same with great accuracy, has been often denounced 
 as one which interferes with the independence of the legislative 
 branch of the government. But it has been exercised by all 
 presidents from Washington to Pierce, and considered so whole- 
 some, that it has found a place in almost all our state constitutions, 
 even of the latest date. There is no doubt that considerate presi- 
 dents and governors may, by means of this veto-power, best pre- 
 vent inconsiderate legislation. It is also required for the protec- 
 tion of the minority. On such opportunities, and in their annual 
 messages, they may urge and broach sound doctrines, which do 
 not so easily make themselves heard in legislative bodies, ofttimes 
 too numerous and noisy for legislative purposes. 
 
 The intrigues and power of parties and factions, extraneous in- 
 fluences (the lobby) of interested and designing persons, limited 
 time of the sessions, and carelessness, may be the origin of laws, 
 which, when executed, would promote more harm than good. On 
 this point of legislation the executive must be the best judge. 
 There could not occur an unconstitutional law in our country if 
 this veto-power were exercised with more circumspection. In a 
 self-governing society, a few, simple, general laws are desired for 
 the common welfare. From this view, so often laid down in the 
 messages of our better presidents, the veto-power has been cre- 
 ated in the constitution. Its history proves that it always has 
 been used justly by our presidents. In this regard our executives 
 have an important duty to perform. They will do it rightly if 
 they start from the point that our governments are only required 
 for the realization of justice; that they-have to protect and con- 
 serve the rights of self-government and liberty ; that they have 
 not to meddle with non-political, social affairs ; that they must 
 move strictly within the limits of the constitution, and neither 
 allow partisan legislation nor indulge in the realization of ideals 
 and moral problems, which must be left to the exertions of those 
 
UNCONSTITUTIONAL LAWS. 47 
 
 whose proper duty and avocation it is to occupy themselves with 
 such subjects. Bad laws create more evil than can be remedied 
 by their repeal. Considerate and just laws are veto and repeal 
 proof. 
 
 None of our constitutions or statute-books contains a proviso on 
 the punishment of those who propose or approve of unconstitu- 
 tional laws. A due sense for justice makes one desirable to check 
 such legislation, which is, if not criminal, highly disgraceful under 
 written constitutions. We can not be careful enough in selecting 
 the members of Congress and in legislating, to save the reputa- 
 tion of our system of governing. There is in the English parlia- 
 mentary transactions between the ministry and the houses a cus- 
 tom, that the first resign when they are defeated by a vote on the 
 bills brought in by them. This can not happen in Congress, be- 
 cause government does not propose bills. This English custom is 
 based upon the assumption, that the king can not err and is there- 
 fore not responsible, also not, when proposing a bill by his re- 
 sponsible ministers. In the untoward case, however, that such a 
 bill should not pass, it would be against good aristocratic taste, to 
 carry on the government with a ministry exposing the king to a 
 defeat in the parliament. Something like such a custom should 
 prevail in Congress and states, in cases, when a law has been de- 
 clared unconstitutional by the judiciary. The executive, who has 
 signed such a law, should then resign at once, to save the people 
 the humiliation to be governed by a constitution-breaking execu- 
 tive, whose main duty is to see, that the constitution is preserved 
 and together with the laws faithfully executed. 
 
 "3. Every order, resolution, or vote, to which the concurrence of the senate 
 and house of represewtatives may he necessary (except on a question of ad- 
 journment), shall be presented to the president of the United States ; and he- 
 fore the same shall take effect, shall he approved by him or hein^ disapproved 
 hy him, shall he repassed by two thirds of the senate and the house of rep- 
 resentatives, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in the case 
 of a bill." 
 
 This, as you will see, is a mere extension of the preceding 
 clause. Rules and resolves concerning the internal affairs of each 
 house come riot within the scope of this provision. 
 
 Let us now take a short review of the sections we have perused, 
 They contain the rules for the organization and working of the 
 Congress. The constitution says not a word of the parties or the 
 
48 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 ways and means of making a candidate for Congress, and what a 
 party-candidate has to do to get into a place or office of influence 
 and emolument. The constitution presupposes that the people or 
 electors, and nobody else, shall be the source from which officials 
 spring up. But this is not the case in reality. It is obvious, that 
 all our elections are managed by parties, which, from usage, are 
 the agents of the people and candidates in all election affairs. 
 We may compare them to the brokers who are stepping in be- 
 tween sellers and buyers to realize a bargain. Those parties, or 
 political brokers, leave for the people nothing to do at the ballot- 
 box, which is called the palladium of our liberty, but to approve 
 their party-candidates, or, to throw their votes away, as the phrase 
 is, because, as matters are, a no-party candidate will never com- 
 mand a majority of the votes. 
 
 History proves, that there is no state (and I fear that there 
 never will be one), where the ways and means to office and in- 
 fluence or power are such as they ought to be, according to justice 
 and morals. In monarchies birth, station, connections, armies, 
 courts favor, and what is called loyalty to the ruling party, 
 smoothes the path to office and preference ; in democracies a hun- 
 dred artifices of popularity, party, even faction, open the road to 
 power. Bribery with its golden key unlocks many doors to of- 
 fices everywhere. Talent and merit, if not patronised by royal 
 or public favor or party, remains behind. The press, another 
 palladium of our liberty, is also the willing helpmate of partisans or 
 the servile instrument of princely courts. Of course, in democra- 
 cies many noble principles are set forth in platforms to strengthen 
 the parties, and to recommend them to the favor of the people ; 
 still all this activity of parties is not legalized by law or the con- 
 stitution, and, consequently, thus far, Congress depends entirely 
 upon a power, that of party, which is irresponsible, although it 
 assumes the management of the most important right of a free peo- 
 ple, that of voting. I am aware that party is a part of the peo- 
 ple, still it is not the people. When the force of party is turned 
 against the law and constitution from selfish or even treasonable 
 motives, party becomes faction. Of course, faction must be di- 
 rectly dangerous to the stability of the political fabric and constitu- 
 tion, while parties, which have their origin merely in a difference 
 of opinion about the existing laws, are harmless. Genuine party 
 
PARTIES. 49 
 
 never plots, but faction does ; party shuns violence, but faction 
 seeks and craves it. The abolitionists form a faction and not a 
 party, because they act with violence against the laws and con- 
 stitution, burn this document, ignore the Union and the constitu- 
 tional compromises upon which it rest, oppose with arms in hand 
 the officers of the government, refuse constitutional appropriations 
 on pany grounds, and may finally destroy the political structure, 
 if not checked by the common sense of the law-abiding people. 
 
 I believe that we have nothing at all to fear from our officers 
 in regard to liberty, or, what is the same, in regard to the stability 
 and safety of our political institutions, even admitting that they 
 often abuse their offices for selfish purposes ; but we have every- 
 thing to fear from factions, which spring up in our midst, and 
 from unprincipled party influences in our legislatures. The offi- 
 cers change their places, but leaders of parties and factions do not; 
 they take a strong hold upon the mind and passions of man, and, 
 if reckless, will not rest until a constitution which bars their plots 
 is broken down. 
 
 I write from experience, that, upon the activity of parties and 
 factions, women have an immense influence. Read, my dear chil- 
 dien. the history of the French Revolutions. The worst scenes 
 of the first Revolution were enacted under the auspices of infuri- 
 ated viragos. If they had taken the part of peace, order, and 
 propriety, the lives of thousands, wantonly butchered, would have 
 been saved. We all admit that the influence of women upon the 
 character of American society is all-powerful and most benefi- 
 cial. What would society be, everywhere, without it? Women 
 f< rm one half of society. God's plan can not be, that one half of 
 human society shall be in public social affairs a blank. Their 
 influence is in the direction of decorum, taste, and urbanity. If it 
 i> general, this character will be stamped upon our public affairs 
 too. It is in want of a more universal influence of woman upon 
 society, that the management of our public affairs seems to be so 
 undignified and tasteless. Party helps to offices and power. 
 ' Party," so said Swift, " is the madness of the many for the ben- 
 efit of the few." There is no greater slavery, no more corrupting 
 condition, than the blind devotedness to party. If I vote for a 
 party candidate, I do it because I believe him to be the fittest man 
 for the place ; but, this done, I watch his course with the iridepen- 
 
 3 
 
50 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 dence of a freeman, and, if it should turn out to be wrong, oppose 
 him with all lawful means. On the other hand, I support an offi- 
 cer or legislator elected by another party, with the same unbiased 
 independence, if he is right. I beseech you, my sons, to act like- 
 wise as citizens. In regard to party promises, or platforms, or 
 resolves, the constitution and established justice must guide your 
 judgment. Only those platforms are worth noticing which are 
 truly constitutional. 
 
 The constitution is our political theory, which may be corrupted 
 or destroyed by a wrong practice. Every voter must be clear 
 before he decides on a candidate, whether the party by which he 
 is proposed rests, in regard to its aims, on the constitution or not. 
 About special laws as, for example, whether a naturalized citi- 
 zen may be admitted to vote in five, or ten, or twenty years 
 there may exist a great variety of opinions, for such objects de- 
 pend upon expediency, circumstances, and general principles of 
 justice, but not upon the constitution itself. But whether Con- 
 gress has the power to enact prohibitory laws in regard to the 
 settlement of the territories or not, is a constitutional question, and 
 not one of mere expediency. If such a power be admitted, Con- 
 gress may to-day exclude certain classes of Americans, to-morrow 
 catholic Irishmen, and again, protestant Germans, from settling 
 and cultivating wild lands in Kansas and elsewhere, and setting 
 up states. 
 
 I warn you, my sons, especially never to be the slaves of party, 
 and always to judge carefully and soberly on the so-called party 
 platforms, whether they are strictly constitutional or not ; because, 
 by supporting an unconstitutional party by your votes, you make 
 yourselves guilty of a treason against the constitution, the founda- 
 tion upon which our social happiness and national welfare rests. 
 
POWERS OF CONGRESS. 51 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 Congressional Business or Powers. Political Institutions. United States, 
 States, Counties, Towns, Cities, Villages. Conflicts between them. 
 Supreme Court the Arbiter. Kansas Troubles. Direct and Indirect 
 Taxation. Paying Debts. Estimates. Tariffs. Direct Taxation un- 
 popular. Protective and Prohibitive Tariffs. 
 
 WE have now arrived at that part of the constitution which 
 tells us what business properly belongs to Congress, and what not. 
 There is more life, more interest, more matter of fact. 
 
 The public affairs committed to the care of Congress are called 
 powers of Congress, because they are granted, or given in trust. 
 Properly speaking, these affairs are alike all over the world. 
 Governments, of whatever form, should never assume more busi- 
 ness than is required for the realization of justice. To define the 
 limits of the authority of Congress, a special list of the political 
 business granted to it was necessary, to distinguish it from other 
 political business reserved for the states. The framers of the con- 
 stitution have made this list with great care and a due apprecia- 
 tion of the great difference, as we have already noticed, which 
 exists between national and municipal political affairs. 
 
 I shall try to make this difference plain enough. The political 
 institutions as the United States, states, counties, towns, cities, 
 and villages are cut out of the same everlasting material, viz., 
 society, which without them would be nothing but a confused 
 maze. However, man being so much given to quarrelling, it can 
 not fail that conflicts or disputes will happen about this political 
 business, whether it may be done by towns or counties, states or 
 Congress. But, under written constitutions, and in unsubjected 
 society, they should never partake of a serious or disturbing char- 
 acter, especially while it is the office of the judiciary to decide on 
 such conflicts. 
 
 The argumentation depends, then, upon the reading and inter- 
 pretation of the constitutions. The federal constitution is so plainly 
 worded, and its purpose (the organization of the national political 
 
52 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 business) so clearly set forth, that such conflicts have, up to this 
 time, rather partaken of the nature of common lawyer cavilling, 
 easily set aside by the supreme court. The Kansas troubles 
 make an exception, because faction raised arms against the con- 
 stitutional territorial government of Congress. Let us see what 
 business belongs to Congress. 
 
 SECTION VIII. 
 
 The Congress shall have power 
 
 "1. To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the debts 
 and provide for the common defence and general welfare of the United States ; 
 but all duties, imposts, and excises, shall be uniform throughout the United 
 States." 
 
 It is obviously a mere consequence of the establishing of a gov- 
 ernment, that it must possess the power to raise revenues for its 
 support. Without it there would be no government at all. Taxes, 
 duties, imposts, excises, were revenues in public use in Great 
 Britain and other countries at the time of the framing of the con- 
 stitution. At present, the terms duties and imposts are synonymous. 
 Revenues are of two kinds, either direct or indirect. The first are 
 generally called taxes ; incomes from customs, public lands, the 
 mint, etc., belong to the second class. The difference between the 
 two is, that direct revenues or taxes are levied upon persons and 
 property ; while indirect taxes are derived from the use or con- 
 sumption of certain commodities, and chiefly from imported arti- 
 cles of luxury, fashion, etc. 
 
 Direct -revenues are based upon certain estimates, correspond- 
 ing with the wants of the government; indirect revenues are col- 
 lected by tariffs, and bring either more or less than the govern- 
 ment requires, according to the amount of imposts : if more, they 
 are superfluous, which may lead to profligacy and abuse of power; 
 if not sufficient, the credit of the government may suffer from the 
 want of means. Direct taxes are said to be more or less odious, 
 because they can be counted; while indirect taxes are borne 
 more easily, because they can not be readily ascertained by the 
 consumer. Monarchs were and are in favor, and the inventors 
 of, indirect revenues. In the United States, direct taxes must be 
 apportioned in proportion to the population of the several states 
 (see Section ii., No. 3). 
 
 The United States treasury is at present, in the main, filled by the 
 
CONTRACTING DEBTS. 53 
 
 customs, an arrangement which excludes the idea of absolute free- 
 dom of commerce. Thus, we are so little accustomed to pay a 
 tax for Congress, that a taxation on this account would be unpop- 
 ular, as the phrase is. The wording of this clause plainly shows 
 that the framers of the (Constitution wished not to tie up the hands 
 of Congress in the care for its financial resources, so that our fed- 
 eral government is at liberty to act according to time and circum- 
 stances, which, together with public opinion, have a great influ- 
 ence upon the finances of nations. Of course, this part of the 
 public business is the cause of a treasury department with a sec- 
 retary at its head, customhouses, collectors, sub-treasurers, and a 
 large number of offices for the collecting, controlling, and disbursing 
 of the revenues. 
 
 It is self-evident that laws on customs revenues ought to be 
 made with a view to benefit the home and not foreign industry, 
 as long as such customs are raised from a similar view abroad. 
 This is required by the principle of mutuality in social affairs. 
 The natural order of things is freedom of industry, of which com- 
 merce is a branch. It is impossible to determine, with mathemati- 
 cal accuracy, the just limits of such customs, especially on account 
 of the influence of foreign customs systems. This has, therefore, 
 been the cause of violent party disputes one party (the whig) 
 advocating protective and even prohibitive customs ; the other 
 party (the democrats) free trade. A middle course, between 
 those extremes, is, under prevalent international circumstances, 
 preferable. 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 Contracting Debts. States to pay as they go. Regulation of Commerce 
 at Home and Abroad. Law of Mutuality. The Self-preservation of 
 Nations. 
 
 WE continue our reading. The Constitution allows Congress : 
 
 "2. To borrow money on the credit of the United States." 
 
 This is a needful proviso to raise a revenue temporarily for 
 
 instance, in time of war, or if suddenly the imports on luxuries, 
 
 etc., should fall off. Public economists maintain that mere muni. 
 
54 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 cipal governments, as our states, should be deprived of the power 
 to borrow money, and " pay as they go," because they can in their 
 ordinary walk of business never be exposed to a necessity of bor- 
 rowing money, while Congress, as the manager of our national 
 affairs, may in consequence of an untoward event, as aggressive 
 war, rebellion, etc., be involved in difficulties with foreign nations, 
 requiring such temporary expedients to furnish means for the com- 
 mon defence. 
 
 " 3. To regulate commerce 
 a With foreign nations. 
 b And among the several states, 
 c And with the Indian tribes." 
 
 Three distinct objects are here committed to the care of Con- 
 gress, which are as such pointed out in print. Those few lines 
 have given rise to frequent debates, often of a very irritating char- 
 acter in Congress. 
 
 The intention of the constitution is plain enough, if we read it 
 as the organic law defining the national political business, and not 
 as one written for merchants and traders. Then the words to 
 regulate commerce with foreign nations, or with our quasi nations, 
 the states, at home, and Indian tribes, can not mean that Congress 
 shall tell traders, where to get goods, or to fight the Chinese to 
 force them to buy tobacco from us, or build canals or roads for the 
 transportation of goods, etc. ; never, they simply define a plain 
 business, belonging to all national governments, to make treaties 
 or certain rules or laws by which commerce in its threefold direc- 
 tion, clearly pointed out, shall be regulated and protected on land 
 and water. Hence treaties about coasting-trade, fisheries, equality 
 of duties, Danish Sound dues, police over the oceans, ocean har- 
 bors, and navigable inland waters, crafts and seamen, pilotage, 
 salvage, ports of entry, embargo, lighthouses, safety of passengers 
 (incidental) on board ship, etc., are exclusive business objects for 
 Congress, whose authority is exhausted as soon as the case ceases 
 to be a national one, when the municipal authority takes its place. 
 Local internal improvements have no connection with this clause. 
 It follows from this clause that no state government has the power 
 to make commercial regulations with foreign governments, or with 
 a government of one of the states, or with Indian tribes. The 
 words " to regulate commerce," have no meaning without the 
 
COMMERCE. 55 
 
 words which follow. In such an abstract manner there is no 
 government on earth wise and powerful enough to regulate com- 
 merce. The framers of the constitution were not the men guilty 
 of such a folly. Still party has taken hold of this provision to 
 make capital out of it. Partisans have inferred from those words, 
 " to regulate commerce," that the power of Congress to regulate 
 commerce, is unlimited. 
 
 This clause, namely, the duty of Congress to regulate the com- 
 merce between the confederated states, is the main source of our 
 internal commercial liberty, one of the greatest boons of our con- 
 federation, and the very cause of the wonderfully fast-spreading 
 culture of the land, because no state can enact, constitutionally laws 
 levying taxes upon trade, as the states do in Germany, although 
 confederated, and as the Dutch and Swiss republics did, and the 
 latter perhaps still do. Bloody revolutions have been the result 
 of such commercial checks and burdens, guarantied by this clause 
 of our noble constitution, which so endears our Union to the solid 
 mass of the people, and which renders it a desirable home for all 
 industrious men. What feelings would take the place of this love 
 of our country, should the industry of the Boston merchant be 
 checked by custom lines around every state? should Louisiana 
 have power to tax New York city, and the state of New York 
 New Orleans ? This most precious liberty of commerce, for which 
 fanatics and factionists care little, is the result of the clause giving 
 Congress the right to regulate commerce among the several states. 
 Further, in consequence of this proviso, neither our own states nor 
 foreign governments can meddle with our Indian tribes. With- 
 out a good deal of fanciful reading and cavil this clause can not 
 be misunderstood. 
 
 Fancy delights in considering human society as one family. It 
 is so in abstraction, but not in reality, which shows that it is com- 
 posed of different races, and these are divided into different inde- 
 pendent nations, represented by peculiar governments, acting like 
 persons, that is, taking good care of their self. No person, no 
 family, can exist otherwise. It is much the same with nations as 
 such. But if this is done according to the law of mutuality, the 
 essence of justice, expressed by the Christian sentence, Do unto 
 others as you wish they may do unto you, persons and nations will 
 exist co-ordinately and comfortably together. To preserve this 
 
56 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 comfort, persons and nations must be on their guard against tres- 
 passers and trespassing. Suppose a European nation and their 
 government were much more depending upon the commerce with 
 our nation than we upon theirs, and their government opposed to 
 ours in theory and practice, then this law of mutuality and due 
 regard to ourself and comfort, imperatively require to regulate 
 this intercourse from our side so that we should not strengthen by 
 it the hostile force and attitude of the foreign government, in order 
 ,to avoid our own national suicide. This, to balance right, requires 
 wise, delicate, and resolute statesmanship. 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 Naturalization and Bankruptcy Laws. Foreigners. Declaration of In- 
 tention to become a Citizen. Congress, and State-citizenship Laws. 
 Family Suffrage. American Woman's Influence. Credit. Congress 
 not true to their duty. Legislation of the several States on Bankruptcy 
 Suppletive. France. Germany. President Buchanan's Message on 
 a Congressional Bankruptcy Law. Congressional Committee report 
 against it. Denies the Power of Congress. 
 
 WE come now to the "foreigners." Congress further has the 
 power : 
 
 " 4. To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on 
 the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States." 
 
 For the sake of brevity, two business objects have been inclosed 
 in this clause, which have nothing in common. The second sen- 
 tence concerning bankruptcies would never have found a place in 
 the constitution, if Congress were indeed the regulator of com- 
 merce, because as such this body could make as many laws con- 
 cerning bankruptcies, banks, drafts, commercial partnerships, pro- 
 tests, exchange, discount, as it pleased, incidentally to the foregoing 
 clause. Aliens must be Americanized/ The colonies were a 
 creation of immigration ; that immigration from Europe would 
 fill the vast regions of the United States, was foreseen by the sa- 
 gacious framers of the constitution. To give uniformity to this 
 national business, Congress was empowered to legislate upon it. 
 
BANKRUPTCY LAWS. 57 
 
 Hence, the naturalization laws, by which, of course, were ex- 
 cluded titles, orders of nobility, allegiance to foreign governments 
 or princes, and' a certain time fixed, five years' residence in the 
 country, temporary business absence not included, and required a 
 declaration of the intention to become a citizen, etc. State legis- 
 latures have altered the time of five years, and reduced it, in 
 regard to voting, to one year and less, producing a kind of conflict 
 with the laws of Congress, which has become a bone of party 
 contention. 
 
 The federal constitution, and the laws of Congress in this res- 
 pect, seem to have operated well, while state legislation has led to 
 voting abuses, especially in consequence of the general suffrage 
 law. Viewing emigration, and its political consequences, from a 
 simple natural social standing-point, we must be inclined to admit 
 that the establishing of a family, and home, is the universal begin- 
 ning of the real exercise of citizen rights, and presumptively 
 qualifies better than a law can do to voting. If a naturalization 
 law could start from this natural basis, the matter would be easily 
 set right, and state interference prevented. I admit that the 
 voting by families is yet unpopular, but if American women would 
 look into the matter, and insist upon such a voting law, it would 
 soon be carried, and prove to be one of the greatest social politi- 
 cal improvements of the time, and remain for ever popular ; for it 
 is just, necessary, natural, and common sense, as the family state 
 itself, while the general suffrage law is a mere arbitrary measure. 
 
 The second part of this clause attributes to Congress the care 
 for a general bankrupt law. 
 
 The framers of the constitution were well aware of the immense 
 importance of the confederation in regard to the expansion of 
 industry and commerce. They knew further, that commerce 
 without credit is impossible, and that credit will degenerate into 
 swindling, and lose its moral force without the support of uniform 
 stringent laws. The idea of having throughout the Union a gen- 
 eral law on the subject of bankruptcy, sprung up from a true, 
 honest, and statesmanlike appreciation of the confederation. To 
 such an appreciation, however, Congress never has come, never 
 has aspired. This assemblage is far from answering to its true 
 constitutional purpose. Very few of its members take the consti- 
 tution for their rule of action. Thus Congress has tried repeat- 
 
 *3* 
 
58 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 edly to enact a uniform bankruptcy law, but it always failed, so 
 that this clause, thus far, is not exhausted by legislative action. 
 The state legislatures have supplied this deficiency, which, of 
 course, produces a variety of systems where uniformity is desira- 
 ble. In South Carolina, executors of estates have a right to help 
 themselves if they have claims against them before all other cred- 
 itors; they can pay any creditor they please, according to the 
 dignity of the debt ; a man dying, or failing, may there prefer one 
 creditor to another, etc. If now a citizen of another state is not 
 aware of this anomalous state of things, and belongs not to the 
 dignified creditors, he will suffer losses, while a uniform con- 
 gressional law should protect him from such. 
 
 The opinion is at present adopted that this grant is not an ex- 
 clusive one, and that thus the state legislatures may enact bank- 
 rupt laws which would be unconstitutional if this clause should be 
 exclusive. But this seems to be not true, for if this opinion be 
 right, all other grants in this clause would be as little exclusive, 
 for they are all made in the same manner and tenor. The fact is, 
 Congress has had, up to this time, no good will, or energy enough 
 to establish a uniform bankruptcy law, therefore, the state legis- 
 latures were obliged to supply the deficiency temporarily. As 
 soon as Congress would enact one, then all state laws in this re- 
 gard would cease to be valid. 
 
 You see how much work is still left for us by this noble consti- 
 tution. If the prevalent, virulent and speculative party spirit will 
 pervade Congress longer, it will never be wholly executed. 
 
 France, with thirty-five million inhabitants, has a uniform law 
 on this subject; and I observe that there was, in 1857, a conven- 
 tion sitting in Germany to make one. No doubt that our consti- 
 tution has suggested the idea. So I hope it will be now soon 
 realized, for the benefit of the public and unfortunate honest 
 debtors at home. 
 
 President Buchanan having, in his first annual message to 
 Congress, suggested the necessity of enacting a uniform general 
 bankruptcy law, Congress appointed a committee, who reported 
 that the subject, especially with reference to banks, belonged to 
 the states to legislate upon. This may have been satisfactory to 
 this committee, but is adverse to the constitution, and something 
 
COINING AND COUNTEKFEITING. 59 
 
 like insubordination or revolution. A business intrusted wisely 
 by the people to Congress, can not, by their agents, be intrusted to 
 the states without causing confusion and anarchy. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 Coining Money. Its Value. Standard of Weights and Measures. 
 Mints. Assay Offices. Decimal Coinage. Counterfeiting. Punish- 
 ment. Post-Offices. Post-Roads. Roman Custom. Mail Lines. 
 Competition. Internal Improvement Policy. 
 
 WE glide from power to power, or business to business. Con- 
 gress has the power : 
 
 " 5. To coin money, regulate the value thereof and of foreign coin, and 
 fix the standard of weights and measures." 
 
 The subjects of this provision are truly national, and thus justly 
 belonging to Congress. For a general commercial intercourse, a 
 certain standard medium of exchange is indispensable to represent 
 property. Mankind have adopted for this purpose the most valu- 
 able metals, gold and silver, having an intrinsic standard value, 
 not affected by laws or art. To legalize this standard, and coin 
 and mint, accordingly, money, is the business of Congress. Con- 
 sequently, Congress has erected mints, assay offices, etc. 
 
 Justice requires uniform laws for standard weights and meas- 
 ures, and even international arrangements for a mundane unifor- 
 mity in such things. 
 
 That Congress has not succeeded until lately to make the na- 
 tional legal decimal coinage exclusive, proves that upon the circu- 
 lation of money, usage exercises a more powerful influence than 
 laws. 
 
 Within these few words lies the trust of the national monetary 
 affairs. It is not fair, from the side of the state governments to 
 circumvene this proviso by allowing associations to fabricate 
 paper money, which is actually like coining. 
 
 " 6. To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and 
 current coin of the United States." 
 
60 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 This grant is a sequel to the preceding. The crime of counter- 
 feiting is declared a felony, punishable by imprisonment, fine, etc. 
 
 " 7. To establish post-offices and post-roads." 
 
 This proviso has giv r en cause to many disputes. The meaning 
 of the constitution obviously is to give Congress the right to es- 
 tablish post or mail lines, as we should express it at present. That 
 for this purpose offices and officers are necessary, is a matter of 
 course. There are roads wherever a mail line is needed, so that 
 Congress is saved the trouble of building one. But this never 
 was the meaning of the framers of the constitution, which is here 
 worded in the old European law language. The Romans built 
 roads for government use, with posts or relays, straight through 
 the provinces, without regard to the communication, commerce, 
 and correspondence. Our post business is no such thing, but a 
 mere forwarding or express-line business, and properly speaking, 
 no political business at all. It belongs, at present, naturally to 
 those who form express and railroad lines. No government is 
 instituted for the forwarding or express business, or the diffusion 
 of knowledge, or the facilitating of social intercourse ; free men 
 do not require such things from their governments. Europe inheri- 
 ted such institutions from the Romans, and the governments found 
 it to their interests, to make the forwarding of the letters of their 
 subjects a source of revenue, and, at the same time, keep the con- 
 tents of the correspondence under secret and open surveillance. 
 It is managed thus by the English government, was transplanted 
 to the colonies, and left with the Congress, to keep it there con- 
 solidated. Congress saw fit also to forbid private competition, 
 which stamps the business as a monopoly. Upon such nonpoliti- 
 cal business time exercises a paramount influence. 
 
 The forwarding of correspondence by mail or telegraph should 
 be open to competition, and consequently to constant improvement. 
 There is an invention spoken of to transport letters in tubes, by 
 the pressure of air. If practicable, Congress will feel the injus- 
 tice of monopolizing the letter-forwarding. By taking the words 
 "establishing postroads" in the obsolete European or Roman sense 
 of the business, the idea has sprung up that Congress has a right 
 or is bound by the constitution to construct roads and improve 
 rivers, generally called internal improvements, for the transporta- 
 tion of the mail ; and has given cause to party disputes, and vetoed 
 
PATENTS. 61 
 
 laws. It has happened that the presidents generally were against 
 this internal improvement policy, and Congress, the house of 
 representatives especially, in favor of it. Viewing the matter in 
 the light of the present age, Congress has the right to establish 
 post or mail lines, with offices and officers, without forbidding free 
 competition, and designate the roads over which these lines shall 
 pass. If Congress were authorized to build roads, the word build 
 or construct would have been used instead of " establish." 
 
 LETTER XI. 
 
 Sciences and Useful Arts. Copyright. Patents. Progress of Science. 
 Ripening of the Understanding. Locke. Smithson. His Legacy 
 And American. Political Patronage of Arts and Sciences in Europe. 
 Goethe. Fourierism. 
 
 WE come now to fresh fields and pastures, the sciences and 
 arts, and shall immediately see what the noble frarners of the 
 constitution thought of them. The law gives Congress on this 
 point the power: 
 
 " 8. To promote the progress of science and the useful arts, by securing 
 for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respect- 
 ive writings and discoveries." 
 
 Is this all ? you will perhaps ask. Could they not say a word 
 or two of national education, national universities, national agri- 
 cultural bureaus or colleges, national scholarships ? No, my dear 
 children; they preferred not to say a single word about these 
 things, because they could not afford to consider them as national 
 political affairs, for which alone they had the power to make a 
 constitution. But eminently wise men as they were, they took 
 good care for justice in regard to the products of arts and sciences 
 and the property rights of their authors in the Union. They had 
 at this time made a great step forward. There are still govern- 
 ments which leave those rights but little protected. 
 
 The consequence of this clause are the patent-office and copy- 
 right laws. The wisdom of controlling this business in Congress 
 is obvious. Authors, artists, and inventors divulge their works, 
 
62 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 not with the intention to lose by it, but for their and others' benefit. 
 But the act of publication would be mere loss if the law would 
 not secure their property rights. This instance is again a proof 
 of the immense value of our Union for the welfare of individuals 
 and society at large. You have seen that by certain grants to 
 Congress the liberty of commerce has been secured in the Union, 
 binding to it the numerous trading classes. You meet here a 
 grant which links the literary, arjistic, and mechanical public to 
 the confederation. This policy benefits directly and indirectly the 
 agricultural class. Who and what are then the men, my dear 
 children, who can dare to speak, nay, to think of the dissolution 
 of this Union ! Can it be men who ever read this constitution, 01 
 witnessed its working ? A government has, strictly speaking, no 
 force to effectually promote the real progress of science and arts, 
 however ample the financial resources should be at its disposal ; 
 because this progress is dependent upon circumstances over which 
 men have very little control. The real progress of science is the 
 ripening of the understanding. This is a work of exceedingly 
 slow advancement, as Locke has already observed. Useful occu- 
 pation, early industrial habits, study, that is, select reading, good 
 domestic example, improve the understanding more than doctrines, 
 theories, novels, etc. Political officers, who are too often mere 
 instruments of party, can do here nothing that society may not 
 do as well and better ; because arts and sciences belong to free 
 social business, and not to political. To tax one for the purpose 
 of raising the school-money for another would be unjust, it being 
 beside doubtful whether such a support is indeed for his benefit 
 and that of society or not. Education is a part of the destiny of 
 man. We must not organize destiny. The more liberty and 
 variety in education the better. Circumscribed schooling and in- 
 struction does not make better men. I wish not to be taxed for the 
 schooling of a Robespierre, or to raise a fund for speculators. 
 
 The Englishman Smithson did not understand our constitution ; 
 otherwise he would not have bestowed upon Congress a legacy 
 for the diffusion of knowledge ; because Congress has nothing to 
 do with such business. He, of course, a European, was not 
 aware that we commit the care of that to writers, editors, pub- 
 lishers, preachers, lecturers, speakers, liberal wealthy men, ama- 
 teurs of arts and sciences, associations, or, if you please, to every- 
 
COPYRIGHTS. 63 
 
 body, nurses and mothers included. Congress would have acted 
 upon truly American principles in declining this curious stipend, 
 which is but a national bore. It is impossible that even our 
 governments, constantly coming fresh from the people as they are, 
 can keep pace with our free society in such things. 
 
 Our press is absolutely free ; not so in Europe. It divulges 
 events, discoveries, ideas, and projects, with a rapidity so great 
 that stable formal governments in a race with it will always be 
 behind time. To bring schools and sciences in contact with party 
 is most objectionable. Still, all this is entirely different in Europe, 
 which we are too prone to imitate in such things. The political 
 patronage bestowed there upon sciences and arts is a part of that 
 general favorite and pension policy peculiar to all monarchies, 
 which is calculated to make the talent loyal and submissive. If it 
 dares to be independent it is suspected, neglected, and even per- 
 secuted. Beside, my dear children, sciences and arts serve satan 
 as much as God ; bogus as much as truth ; error and superstition 
 as much as reason. Goethe, a highly gifted and prolific writer, 
 as you know, says pertly, " Books are written to show our errors." 
 My letters may also contain some : try to find them out. In what 
 light do then appear books or sciences and arts originating with 
 governments ? to show their errors ? Do we organize govern- 
 ments for this purpose ? 
 
 This provision of our constitution is required by justice, and is 
 sufficient for all practical purposes. 
 
 All publications at public expense, emanating from the patent- 
 office, etc., are simply unconstitutional and exceedingly unamer- 
 ican. You will excuse this word. But our society is unique ; 
 something per se ; and chiefly in consequence of our excellent 
 constitution, which expressly starts from the principle that the 
 government shall not interfere with the social affairs, but only take 
 good care for their protection ; and never intended that Congress 
 should become a book-publishing concern, or look out for teaching 
 languages, for arts, seeds, pruning, gardening, fishing, camels, etc. 
 The question what is useful and necessary in regard to sciences 
 and arts, belongs to society to decide. She will judge fairly 
 according to time, circumstances, and the laws of nature. For 
 this very purpose we want to be free, in order that talent and its 
 world-ruling influence may not be crippled nor led astray by the 
 
64 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 force or patronage of governments. " People in the United States 
 are willing to bow to the sway of mind. We have done with the 
 remnants of by-gone times, when bodily strength or military 
 prowess and skill conferred wealth, distinction, and worldly great- 
 ness, and was rewarded by privileges, caste, primogeniture, no- 
 bility, crowns," etc. But the influence of mind must not be hostile 
 to order and established justice. Under our federal constitution 
 are widely opened all facilities for the expansion of the mind, the 
 availability of talent, and the culture of sciences and arts. These 
 flourish best when not stimulated or subsidized by governments. 
 Those which can not grow upon the broad field of liberty and 
 under the protective shelter of a constitution like ours, are useless 
 for society, although they may find a place among imported exot- 
 ics in the luxurious conservatories of the rich, who can pay for 
 them. 
 
 In every respect the federal constitution has been framed to 
 make her time-proof, and therefore she keeps wisely clear of 
 scientific ideals, speculations, Parisian fraternity, socialism, Fou- 
 rierism (by-the-by a very old ism), and all similar schemes. 
 
 We have to guard her like a jewel against the rough hands ot 
 tampering, wicked politicians.. 
 
 But let me stop, that you may not feel alarmed about the length 
 of my letters. 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 Inferior Courts. United States District Courts. Piracies. Felonies. 
 Law of Nations. Ocean Police. Branches of the Ocean. English 
 Law curiosity. War. Letters of Marque and Reprisal. Captures on 
 Land and Water. Justice the end of Wars. Court of Nations. Ju- 
 risdiction of Congress. War defensive or aggressive. Property of Neu- 
 trals. 
 
 WE lapse again for a little while into lawyer business. The 
 constitution requires of Congress : 
 
 " 9. To constitute tribunals inferior to the supreme court." 
 This is a necessary proviso ; for the good administration of just- 
 ice requires a judicious distribution of the judicial business among 
 
INFERIOR TRIBUNALS, PIRACY, AND WAR. 65 
 
 graduated courts of law, for which purpose certain judicial dis- 
 tricts are set up, to limit the jurisdiction of the courts. Hence 
 we have United States circuit and district courts. 
 
 "10. To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high 
 seas, and offences against the law of nations." 
 
 To the Congress belongs the jurisdiction over the vessels ami 
 the citizens of the Union upon the oceans and high seas, just as 
 other governments exercise the same right, in regard to the ves- 
 sels of their subjects, because the oceans are common for all, 
 and therefore, the Congress has to enact all criminal, police, and 
 other laws, concerning the ocean navigation, and crimes com- 
 mitted thereon. The oceans terminate where the creeks and inlets 
 begin, included, within any county. Branches of the ocean, as 
 the Long Island sound or East river, are under the jurisdiction of 
 Congress, which is important in regard to ferries, buoys, lighthous- 
 es, fortifications, quarantines, harbor-line regulations, business be- 
 longing constitutionally to Congress. As our Congress, in the 
 spirit of the constitution, has always been careful not to interfere 
 with the jurisdiction and the business of the state governments, it 
 has not made use of this grant in regard to offences committed on 
 board merchant ships, lying in the. waters of the United States, 
 leaving the cognizance of such cases to the state officials. I here 
 make you acquainted with an English law curiosity. The com- 
 mon law courts and the admiralty hold their concurrent and alter- 
 nate jurisdiction where the tide ebbs and flows ; one upon the 
 water when it is full sea, the other (common law) upon the land 
 when it is ebb. He who will commit a felony, and prefer common 
 law justice must wait until the water ebbs. 
 
 You will excuse me if I am not able to tell you exactly what 
 means the phrase, law of nations, for there is no such thing. Still 
 certain usages, recognised from time to time by governments of dif- 
 ferent nations as rules, have received this name. 
 
 "11. To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules 
 concerning captures on land and water." 
 
 If all governments would consider the realization of justice their 
 principal aim, there would be an end to all war. But not a single 
 government, even ours not entirely excepted, has up to this time 
 acted upon this principle. Thus we must be prepared for war, in 
 order to realize justice by the force of arms, if reason does not 
 
66 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 prevail in the national councils. The friends of peace have pro- 
 posed a court of nations, similar to our United States supreme 
 court, in regard to the differences among nations ; but governments, 
 which consider their business a property right, which they may 
 improve by conquest, never will submit their difficulties to such a 
 court, nor obey its decisions, even if they could be enforced. The 
 decisions of our supreme court can be enforced by the army and 
 navy of the United States. 
 
 War may be either one of redress and punishment, or of self- 
 defence. We can never have a war of conquest as long as we 
 obey our constitution. By means of letters of marque, merchant- 
 vessels are transmitted into men-of-war, to increase our naval force. 
 Of course, all war business is, or ought to be, a part of the reali- 
 zation of justice on a large or national scale. 
 
 On the subject of privateering or cruisers bears the question 
 whether private property of neutrals and others on the sea shall 
 be free or subject to be captured or plundered by privateers or 
 men-of-war. Our government has insisted upon it that it shall be 
 free. But the English government has, up to this time, not con- 
 sented to it. We can not. give up the right of fitting out private 
 vessels as men-of-war in time of war, but neither such vessels nor 
 regular vessels of the navy should be made use of for the plunder- 
 ing of private property, as little as armies should be thus used on 
 land, or, in other words, governments should stop fighting. If 
 they will not cease warring, then private property on sea or land 
 will bear the brunt, because it is impossible to prevent this by 
 treaties. 
 
ARMIES. 67 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 
 Armies. Appropriation of Money for them Biennial. The United States 
 disliked by Monarchs. Necessity of Protection. Navy. Not exactly 
 needed for the Protection of Commerce. The Hanse Towns without a 
 Navy. Land and Naval Forces. Militia. Crimean War. Serf Sol- 
 diers. Discipline. Training of the Militia. EquaV confidence in Con- 
 gress as in State Governments. Christian brotherly Love. Priests. 
 
 CONGRESS is further authorized : 
 
 " 12. To raise and support armies ; but no appropriation of money to that 
 use shall be for a longer term than two years ." 
 
 The first part of this clause, compared with the following pro- 
 viso concerning the navy, plainly shows that the framers of the 
 constitution were not in favor of a standing army, the main prop 
 of despotism and governments by inheritance. Congress shall, in 
 case of war, raise and support armies, as many as are needed, while 
 in the thirteenth clause the grant is to provide and maintain a 
 navy without regard to war or time. "An army requires arms and 
 other materials, drill, and systematic organizations. Hence a war 
 department, secretary of war, arsenals, and a number of offices and 
 officers. Our government is, on account of its form, disliked by 
 the property or grace-of-God governments, and, if not managed 
 with exceeding prudence easily exposed to diplomatic intrigues and 
 troubles, in spite of all assurances of friendship, treaties of peace 
 to the contrary. Our polity naturally isolates us. This state of 
 things requires due vigilance about our common defence. Con- 
 gress has seen fit, from the beginning of its existence, to keep a 
 small standing army, in virtue of this clause, for the protection of 
 our coasts, forts, and boundaries, which may serve as a nucleus for 
 the formation of armies in case of war. With this view the mili- 
 tary academy at West Point has been established. Railroads, 
 telegraphs, steam navigation, in one word, progressive Time may, 
 however, produce frequent changes in such measures. A free 
 people must be trained for self-defence. Military appropriations 
 shall be biennial to keep them under the strict control of each 
 
68 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 congressional session. Such appropriations must be unconditional, 
 in order to avoid clogging in the public service. 
 
 " 13. To provide and maintain a navy." 
 
 The war of the revolution ushered our navy into existence. 
 The exercise of the police over the oceans and the before-men- 
 tioned jealousy of foreign governments seems to require one. It 
 is not so much needed for the protection of commerce as is proved 
 by the merchant fleet of the German Hanse Towns which carries 
 the largest amount of tonnage after that of ourselves and Great 
 Britain, without the protection of a single man-of-war. A navy 
 must be provided for in time ; and this is the cause of a separate 
 department, with a secretary of the navy at the head of the navy 
 yards, and a large number of offices and officers. A naval acad- 
 emy is connected with it. 
 
 " 14. To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and 
 naval force." 
 
 This is a consequence of the preceding grants. As a general 
 thing the English regulations have had much influence over this 
 branch of the national business. Our public ships in our own 
 waters, and wherever they sail, are under the jurisdiction of Con- 
 gress. Justice, as good as mortals can have it, would save us 
 from all war which plunge society in debt. Saltpetre would cease 
 to be villainous. More justice and less villainy will do. 
 
 "15. To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the 
 Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions." 
 
 The militia, you see, is not such an insignificant institution as 
 it appears to be, when mustered. It is the real strong arm of the 
 government, and wisely placed at the disposition of the central 
 government, when needed for the common defence and to insure 
 domestic tranquillity. 
 
 All citizens within a certain age are by duty, their own interest, 
 and law, obliged to fill the ranks of the militia. American moth- 
 ers must be resigned to see their husbands and sons rally under the 
 national standard. They expect their homes to be protected by 
 them. It is their duty to nourish patriotic feelings and to share 
 the burdens of war. A patriotic militia, thus supported, at home, 
 is invincible. The war in the Crimea has shown the difference 
 between free soldiers and serf soldiers. The abolition of Russian 
 serfdom may have something to do with the improvement of the 
 
MILITIA. 69 
 
 army. A call of the president of the United States to arm for the 
 common defence, will be answered by millions of brave men and 
 stout hearts. There are no better teachers of patriotism, honor, 
 and gallantry, than good mothers. You may learn this from ..the 
 biography of Washington. 
 
 "16. To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, and 
 for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the 
 United States, reserving to the states respectively the appointment of the 
 officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline 
 prescribed by Congress." 
 
 This is the last of the six provisoes in regard to the common de- 
 fence. The jurisdiction of Congress over the militia begins when 
 it is mustered at the place of rendezvous. All expenses are borne 
 by the national treasury for the militia called forth by Congress. 
 The commander-in-chief has to decide all minor differences in re- 
 gard to service. It is desirable that all state officials and citizens 
 in general should cheerfully assist Congress when executing those 
 grants, to ensure prompt results in case of common danger. 
 
 Congress is composed of the same material as state govern- 
 ments. Presumptively, as much wisdom, patriotism, and expe- 
 rience rule there as in state governments, or counties and towns. 
 There is not a single reason why we should harrass our Congress 
 with such mistrust or jealousy as European subjects treat their 
 rulers, and by the grace of God princes. Still it has often been 
 the case, and has even given rise to considerable party trouble. 
 
 The main object of the constitution placing the national busi- 
 ness in the hands of Congress, promoted by legal order or justice, 
 is the general welfare and prompt concentrated action when cir- 
 cumstances demand. Before thirty odd states, loosely bound like 
 the old Dutch provinces, decide one single measure, Congress, as 
 it is installed at present, can have already executed thousands. 
 This is the strength derived from a judicious organization and 
 location of the public affairs. 
 
 The bellicose propensities are easily excited in free men. The 
 aim of Jesus was to supplant them by brotherly love and charity. 
 Follow his precepts more than those of his priests, who too often 
 forget that by prudence, forbearing, and a strong sense of justice, 
 we, in our times, may easily avoid all resorts to arms. 
 
TO THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 District of Columbia. Exclusive Legislation over it and Forts, Magazines, 
 Arsenals, Dock-yards. Paris. German Diet in a Free City. Legis- 
 lative Powers concerning all National Business. Sophists and Cavillers. 
 
 WE come now to the clause which creates a curious little, but 
 very wisely-devised empire. 
 
 In accordance with it Congress has 
 
 "17. To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever over such 
 district (not exceeding ten miles square), as may by cession of particular 
 states and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government 
 of the United States ; and to exercise like authority over all places purchased 
 by the consent of the legislature of the state, in which the same shall be, for 
 the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards, and other needful 
 buildings." 
 
 This is the origin of the District of Columbia. The desirable 
 independence of the federal government from state, made the 
 erection of such a ten miles square empire necessary, to be gov- 
 erned by Congress. The wisdom of this proviso is so obvious 
 that those versed in politics that is, the art of organizing society 
 for the ends of justice, were astonished, that the French attempted, 
 so late as 1848, to again establish a national republican govern- 
 ment in Paris, where, if not protected by a powerful garrison, it 
 may be at any time overthrown. Without such an arrangement 
 a state, in whose limits Congress would sit, would acquire an un- 
 due preponderance. Even in monarchical Germany, the diet, as 
 is called the present show of a national Congress, meets in an in- 
 dependent free city, from the same reasons. 
 
 The clause speaks for itself. 
 
 Congress is further empowered 
 
 " 18. To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying 
 into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this con- 
 stitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or of- 
 fice thereof." 
 
 By this provision, Congress has the power to put in motion the 
 
SPECIAL LAWS. 71 
 
 different wheels of the government by acts or laws. "Without this 
 power, the constitution and its grants would be inoperative. 
 Where this organizing has to stop, may be sometimes doubtful ; 
 still no interpretation should obstruct the carrying out of the plans 
 of the constitutional grants. They are sufficiently specified for 
 all practical purposes. Sophists and cavillers must always be put 
 to rest by the authority of the judiciary, because for such men no 
 constitution is conclusive. We have now examined the positive 
 part of the constitution, specifying the business which shall be 
 done by Congress, through the indicated channels. It is impera- 
 tive for each to fulfill its trust, so that no legislative business may 
 be transferred to the executive or vice versa. 
 
 In my next letter we come to the negative part, that is, which 
 prohibits Congress to perform certain business. As simple as 
 this seems to be, yet it required centuries before we arrived at 
 this result ; and what is still more remarkable, that, up to this 
 time, a very few agree about what business is national or federal, 
 and what not. Hence the great necessity for every citizen to in- 
 vestigate this subject thoroughly. Meanwhile let us faithfully 
 stick to this constitution and our Union. 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 Interpretation of the Grant. Congress, the Agent of the people, who re- 
 main the Proprietors. Rights of Self-government. National Bank. 
 Precedents. Shoemaking in Time of War. Expediency. National 
 Banks in England, France, Russia, Austria, Prussia. Public Debts. 
 Washington. Jackson. Good Temper in Public Affairs. Pulpit. 
 Ladies. 
 
 BEFORE we proceed to the reading of a new section, I will add 
 a few remarks to my last letter. The business entrusted to Con- 
 gress has been granted or delegated by the people, who remain 
 the original proprietors, while the officers act as their agents. 
 When it is doubtful whether an expedient to carry such a granted 
 business or power be proper or necessary or even constitutional, 
 those who have to remove this doubt should not only consult the 
 words of the constitution, but also the rights of self-government. 
 
72 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 There was a time when the federal government under Washing- 
 ton thought it necessary to establish a national bank for the regu- 
 lation of the finances and collecting the revenues, &c. Some 
 doubted its constitutionality, while others believed the reverse and 
 supported their opinion by referring to the eighteenth clause. 
 Now, banking, by itself, is a private and not a political business, 
 required for the convenience of commerce, not for the realization 
 of justice ; still it may be, that at certain times, when the public 
 finances are deranged in consequences of war, such a bank, au- 
 thorized by the national government, may be necessary and proper 
 for carrying into execution certain treasury or financial measures, 
 and thus far it would be entirely constitutional. Upon all such 
 things time exercises its all powerful influence. A decision in 
 favor of such a bank in time of general distress and paralyzation 
 of business, however, should not be considered as an imperative 
 precedent for all times to come, and the government should part 
 with such an incidental financial auxiliary as soon as possible, be- 
 cause, as before mentioned, governments generally have as little 
 connection with banking, as with farming and shoemaking. But 
 in time of war why should not our government resort to shoemak- 
 ing for the soldiers too, if there is no other way to get this neces- 
 sary clothing? If such a case should be the cause of party dis- 
 putes, and the supreme court decide that the shoemaking by the 
 government be constitutional, would common-sense men set up 
 this decision as a precedent for all time to come, according to 
 which Congress can carry on shoemaking for ever at pleasure ? 
 Government itself is a mere expedient, and oft-times an exceed- 
 ingly inconvenient necessity. If now, at a certain time, people 
 all- wise, and good, and honest, should agree to dispense with all 
 government, and a few voices should object, upon the ground that 
 government was a necessity by precedent, what would common 
 sense say to that ? Precedents often rest upon no better grounds 
 than fashions or customs. Disputes must, at a certain time, come 
 to an end. It can not be supposed that the decisions will then be 
 not in harmony with the existing facts, circumstances, and laws. 
 But all those facts and circumstances do not happen exactly a 
 second time again. This is the cause of the mutability of legal 
 decisions and of the short validity of precedents. Peculiar cir- 
 cumstances make a national bank necessary in England, France, 
 
INTERPRETATION. 73 
 
 Russia, Austria, and Prussia. There the governments are, to use 
 this expression, living upon debts, for which purpose they use the 
 financiering help of subservient banks, endowed for this purpose 
 with monopolies and privileges. 
 
 Such precedents are, of course, of no value for us. Besides 
 such a national bank with us would inevitably interfere with 
 private banking or with the liberty of industry, one of our most 
 precious social rights, which to protect, and not to molest, is a 
 chief duty of government and the express aim of our constitution. 
 
 Increase of business has, of late, created a necessity for a de- 
 partment of the interior with a secretary at its head. A post- 
 master-general has been from the beginning of the government 
 at the head of the postoffice department. The main channels 
 have been for the same reason subdivided, as the treasury into 
 sub-treasuries. But the origin of this extensive political machin- 
 ery is in a few lines of the eighth section, whose simplicity and 
 precision makes the constitution easily applicable to time and cir- 
 cumstances. 
 
 The grant to raise armies will, I am afraid, remain necessary 
 for all time, as long as men have strong passions for violence and 
 evil, and are destitute of self-control. Still the manner of executing 
 this grant may, in a few years, entirely differ from that of our 
 time. The less detail there is in a constitution about such grants 
 the better. To cavil about incidental expedients is gratuitous 
 and unbecoming if only everything is fairly and honestly man- 
 aged. In this regard, public affairs do not differ from private af- 
 fairs. Washington was as right in his time, when approving a 
 national bank, as Jackson was later, when disapproving it. To 
 make party capital out of such incidents is wrong. 
 
 We are in need of a good temper in our political affairs. 
 Where shall we get it when even the pulpit is turned into a party 
 hot-iron blast? I am not mistaken when I claim it from the 
 American women. I wish they may, with their faculty of quick 
 perception, consider themselves the social pacificators by the grace 
 of God and the laws of nature. 
 
 4 
 
74 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 LETTER XVI. 
 
 Migration and Importation of Persons. Importation of Slaves declared 
 Piracy. Slave Labor, disposing of, in the States. Habeas Corpus. 
 Rebellion. Invasion. Middle Ages. Rogues. Charles I. Attain- 
 der and " Ex-Post-Facto" Bills. Habeas Pursam. 
 
 L/ET us pursue now our reading. 
 
 SECTION IX. 
 
 "1. The migration or importation of such persons as any of the states 
 now existing shall think proper to admit shall not be prohibited by the 
 Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight; but a tax 
 or duty may be imposed on such importation not exceeding ten dollars for 
 each person." 
 
 WHEN the first negative proviso was written down, there were 
 in all the states, prior colonies, bound laborers or slaves kept. 
 The framers of the constitution were, by their constituents, and 
 especially the northern states, induced to insert into the constitu- 
 tion that Congress, in consequence of the policy over the oceans, 
 should not prohibit the importation of slaves before 1808, in order 
 to gain time to dispose of their slaves. After this time, Congress 
 saw fit to prohibit the same under the penalty of piracy. This 
 law is at present in force. Within the several states Congress 
 has nothing to forbid in this regard. The states where slaves are 
 kept have tolerated the trade with them. It is the only way to 
 dispose of bound labor force, and make it useful where needed. 
 Of course this disposing of bound laborers is an incident of the 
 system. It is the business of the slave states to make the needful 
 regulations in this regard. In forbidding the importation of Afri- 
 cans, Congress has cut the Gordian knot, and parted at once witli 
 all the- matter in regard to the foreign slave-trade. In regard to 
 immigration of free persons, Congress has no power to interfere, 
 it being the natural right of man to migrate, and because it be- 
 longs to the states to legislate on this subject. For this very rea- 
 son there is no passport system legal in the Union, and every one 
 is at liberty to wander and migrate as he pleases, also with his 
 
MIGRATION. 75 
 
 servants, bound or free. There are some, especially the leaders 
 of the abolition party, who maintain that this clause indirectly em- 
 powers Congress to forbid slavery in the territories, which politi- 
 cally to organize is its duty, but this is obviously a mistake. As 
 a general thing, nobody is naturally a friend of labor, either bound 
 or free. Also this section, and others of the constitution in con- 
 nexion with bound labor, are not partial for slavery. They but 
 contain, as a matter of course, the provisions necessary in regard 
 to it from a national view. The prohibition of this labor in the 
 United States must originate with the states. 
 
 " 2. The privilege of the writ of ' habeas corpus' shall not be suspended, 
 unless when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may re- 
 quire it." 
 
 This privilege, which consists in the right of any person to take 
 out an order of a judge or court, on behalf of a prisoner illegally 
 arrested, to investigate into its causes by the competent authority, 
 to promote, if possible, his discharge, was in the middle ages, 
 swarming with barons, earls, counts, dukes, and kings, all assum- 
 ing, with sword in hand, lordly or sovereign rights of government 
 or jurisdiction over their vassals or subjects of more importance 
 than now, but may be still of some good service in certain in- 
 stances. However, in consequence of the change of circumstances 
 in favor of liberty, the great improvement of the laws in regard 
 to damages, the better organization of the courts, the unlimited 
 publicity with the help of the press, this privilege, as a general 
 thing, is more useful for the rogues to slip through the meshes of 
 the law than for men really illegally imprisoned. Such is the in- 
 fluence of time. The high praises bestowed now upon this habeas 
 corpus right are rather suspicious, while in the feudal times of 
 Charles First they were deserved and in place. 
 
 "3. No bills of attainder or ' ex post facto' laws shall be passed." 
 
 Such bills would realize injustice, but not justice ; for the first 
 would allow a judgment to pass without a trial, the latter would 
 make an act criminal which was not criminal when committed. 
 At present an attempt to make such laws would be resented by a 
 general outburst of indignation. It is impossible to carry one 
 through the stages of legislation whether this clause be in the con- 
 stitution or not. 
 
 Such atrocities are past. They are gone with the feudal barons 
 
76 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 and knights. But in their places have sprung up political finan- 
 ciers, speculators, politicians by trade, etc., whose mischievous 
 schemes to defeat requires the utmost vigilance, and the creation 
 of a new privilege, perhaps, called " habeas pursam," to recover 
 fraudulent taxes, etc. 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 Negative Provisoes. Capitation Tax. Free Commerce and Navigation 
 between States. Appropriation Laws. Title of Nobility. Presents 
 to Officials from Foreign Princes. 
 
 . LET us go straight through the negative or prohibitive pro- 
 visoes now. 
 
 " 4. No capitation or other direct tax shall be laid unless in proportion to 
 the census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken." 
 
 A similar provision is contained in the second section of the 
 first article. It is but just. 
 
 " 5. No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any state." 
 Export duties are generally unjust. Such a tax would neutral- 
 ize a main object of our Union, liberty of commerce, and would 
 never be submitted to by our people after they have tasted so long 
 the sweet blessings of liberty in this respect. 
 
 "6. No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or reve- 
 nue to the ports of one state over those of another ; nor shall vessels bound 
 to, or from one state, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties in another." 
 
 This is all in harmony with a " perfect union" and the liberty 
 of industry, whose promotion the framers of the constitution had 
 especially in view, in contrast with Europe, where the reverse 
 order of things prevailed at the time when the colonies freed 
 themselves. 
 
 "7. No money shall be drawn from the treasury but in consequence of ap- 
 propriations made by law ; and a regular statement and amount of the re- 
 ceipts and expenditures of all public money shall be published from time to 
 time." 
 
 This is an important proviso. If the appropriations are made 
 only for the necessary national political business, with due regard 
 to economy, no government can be cheaper than ours. But this 
 
NOBILITY. 77 
 
 is actually not the case. The officials in republics are responsi- 
 ble to the people, and under an array of checks, which, by them- 
 selves, are well enough. Still, when the checks of all checks, 
 honesty, is wanting, corruption will easier creep in than in mon- 
 archies, where the personal interests of the monarch and the se- 
 curity of his dynasty make it imperative to him to control the 
 finances strictly. It is the general opinion at present, that our 
 public affairs in Congress, states, and their subdivisions, are man- 
 aged too expensively or not honestly. If true, it is not owing to 
 the constitution. 
 
 " 8. No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States : and no 
 person holding any office of profit or trust under them shall, without the con- 
 sent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title of any 
 kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state." 
 
 This whole section is truly American, and entirely anti-Euro- 
 pean. But it is so just, time has sanctioned and approved those 
 provisions it contains so universally their aim and principles 
 are so well appreciated by mankind that even strong monarchi- 
 cal governments are forced by public opinion to respect them. 
 Still, monarchs and their courts can not well exist without titles of 
 nobility, badges, orders, and the like. The reacting effect of our 
 simple free institutions would be more powerful, even in this re- 
 gard, if our public affairs were managed with more Washington- 
 ian honesty and dignity. To promote both, high salaries are far 
 less commendable than integrity, and a strict vigilance of the 
 people in regard to the business in public trust, Self-governing 
 people must above all try to do themselves what they conveniently 
 can. If our government is, indeed, a mere hazardous experiment 
 as some, especially Europeans, say, it is time to undeceive them. 
 
78 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 LETTER XVIII. 
 
 Checks upon State Legislation in regard to Treaties. Alliance. Money 
 of Metal and Paper. Attainder. Ex-post-facto Laws. Contracts. 
 Nobility. English Banking. State Banks. Merchants make their own 
 Paper Money. Clearinghouses. Political Defaulters. Homes, where 
 best. 
 
 WE come now to a section containing checks upon the state 
 governments, to prevent them from meddling with political busi- 
 ness not belonging to their sphere. You will readily appreciate 
 the propriety of it. 
 
 SECTION x. 
 
 " 1. No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation, grant 
 letters of marque and reprisal, coin money, emit bills of credit, make anything 
 but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts, pass any bill of 
 attainder, ex-post-facto law, or law impairing the obligation of conti-acts, or 
 grant any title of nobility." 
 
 The objects mentioned here are either reserved for Congress 
 (as treaties, coining of money, etc.), or are generally unjust and 
 inadmissible in a society politically well organized. The prohi- 
 bition of state bills of credit, or state paper-money, redeemable at 
 a future day by the states, is necessary to prevent the embarrass- 
 ment of the national finances and general circulation. At the 
 time of writing the constitution there existed a flood of such 
 depreciated state paper-money, causing much inconvenience in 
 commerce, and ruin. Some say that bank paper-money put into 
 circulation upon state authority is also prohibited by this clause. 
 It will most certainly cause the same disastrous effects of state bills 
 of credit, if irredeemable and not readily convertible into gold and 
 silver. Those in favor of the English banking system succeeded 
 under the plea that the people like paper money and are in need 
 of it, in maintaining it thus far. The state bank system has been 
 made a party issue. What influence it has upon the solidity of 
 commerce, foreign importations, the prices of all things, the home 
 industry, the circulation of coined money, mercantile crisis, and 
 
NEGATIVE PROVISOES. 79 
 
 the national finances in general, is not easy to ascertain. Congress 
 has not, as yet, interfered with the bank paper-money circulated 
 on state authority. If it should, then the matter will be thoroughly 
 sifted. 
 
 So much is true, that merchants, as a class, are not in need of 
 bank paper-money; because they everywhere make their own 
 paper money, called drafts, notes, checks. According to the sta- 
 tistics of clearinghouses and bankers, mercantile business amount- 
 ing to fifteen millions is settled or balanced with the help of about 
 one million of specie money. The best and most solid bankers 
 and banks decline to have anything to do with emitting paper 
 money. 
 
 Laws impairing the validity of contracts are the acme of in- 
 justice. States or their courts have to enforce contracts, if needful, 
 but not to help break them. On this account states should never 
 be defaulters. We have, alas ! good grounds for complaint against 
 several of our state governments for such faithless, dishonest con- 
 duct. Swindling corporations and associations follow in their 
 wake. By it they undermine public morals, impair the state 
 authority, encourage fraud, and promote injustice and general 
 embarrassments. Women should consider well before consenting 
 to a home in a state or city which has been a defaulter. 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 Honesty. Checks upon State Legislation in regard to Imports, Duties, 
 Exports (under control of Congress), Tonnage, Soldiers, Navy, Treaties, 
 War. German National Congress at Frankfort. Greek Confedera- 
 tions. United States and States separate Business Concerns. Wicked 
 Men. Well-informed Women. 
 
 HONESTY is the best policy also for states. Let us see what is 
 further forbidden-ground for the states. 
 
 " 2. No state shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay imposts or 
 duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for 
 executing its inspection laws ; and the net produce of all duties and imports 
 laid by any state on imports and exports, shall be for the use of the treasury 
 of the United States ; and all such laws shall be subject to the revision and 
 control of the Congress." 
 
80 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 The restrictions laid upon the state governments in this clause 
 are necessary consequences of the Union and the establishment 
 of a national government, and are required for the protection of 
 the liberty of industry. The different agents of our public affairs 
 should scrupulously avoid any violation of their trusts or powers. 
 Thus only will they command the respect of the citizens ; because 
 these submit themselves cheerfully to the laws, and respect obe- 
 diently the public authorities, if they are executing the laws faith- 
 fully and honestly. It is plain that there can be only one sort of 
 imposts or customs ; otherwise the same article might be taxed by 
 each state, and its whole value soon absorbed by taxation. Some- 
 thing like this has existed in European countries, and may still 
 take place under the name of excise, octroi, etc. Our state 
 governments are thus forced to resort to direct taxation, which, in 
 its turn, obliges them to be economical, if they are not allowed to 
 borrow money. 
 
 " 3. No state shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty of ton- 
 nage, keep troops or ships-of-war in time of peace, enter into any agreement 
 or compact with another state, or with a foreign power, or engage in war, 
 unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit of 
 delay." 
 
 If state governments were allowed to keep troops, Congress 
 would be under the necessity of having constantly an overwhelm- 
 ing force to keep the state governments with their troops at bay. 
 When, in 1848, the German national Congress at Frankfort had 
 debated and resolved awhile without an executive force at their 
 disposal, the state governments, tired of their debates, marshalled 
 their armies, dissolved this Congress, and made an end of German 
 national unity. A similar destiny awaited the ancient Greek con- 
 federations. This would also happen in the United States under 
 similar circumstances. Without a strict adherence to the provisions 
 of this clause, the United States would be Europe to-morrow. No 
 state, as such, has a right to control Congress, or to exercise any 
 authority under the general constitution. No state tribunal has a 
 right to interfere with the seizures of property made by federal 
 revenue-officers in conformity with the laws of Congress. State 
 laws have no operation upon the rights or contracts of the United 
 States. The United States and the states are throughout to be 
 considered as entirely separate business concerns. The govern- 
 ments of Great Britain and France can not be more distinctly 
 
NEGATIVE PROVISOES. 81 
 
 separated from each other than the federal government from the 
 state governments. All resolves and acts of the state legislature 
 or executive, all propositions and recommendations in messages 
 of our state governors on business belonging to Congress are im- 
 proper, unconstitutional, and entirely gratuitous, betraying a med- 
 dlesome spirit and very little appreciation and knowledge of our 
 political system and organic law. 
 
 If all governments would aim at nothing but the realization 
 of justice, never meddle with any business which is not strictly 
 political, and never interfere with each others' affairs, a serious 
 misunderstanding among those public business concerns would be 
 as little possible as a misunderstanding between two neighboring 
 farmers or merchants, if they act upon the same plan, that is, 
 mind their own business. However, for plotting and intriguing 
 men, there is, alas ! no help in laws, though made by a hundred 
 Washingtons ; none in compromises or treaties, though written 
 with the blood of millions of patriots. Those wicked men are the 
 cause of the complaints about the complication of our political 
 system and machinery. 
 
 Well-informed women can here do much good for society. 
 "While they are excluded from direct participation in the public 
 affairs, they may cultivate harmony and promote the interests of 
 the country the more surely. If they are not Viragos would 
 that there were none in the United States, even to promote the 
 temperance fanaticism by violence they may wield the social 
 balance of power. 
 
 I do not natter ; you, my daughters, know me too well in this 
 respect. Make, then, a good use of your real woman's rights : 
 there are bogus woman's rights abroad. 
 
 4* 
 
82 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 Executive. President. Vice-President. Their Election. Term of 
 Four Years. No Titles. - Santa Anna. Vulgar Political Papers. 
 Respect of Public Officers. English ' Grumbling. Second Term. 
 Swiss Presidential Election. 
 
 WE have now to examine a few simple provisions concern- 
 ing our president or executive. Laws require execution. It 
 is wise to separate this business from the legislative ; it may 
 then be done more considerately and effectively, the patronage 
 and power which public business produces divided, and a 
 wholesome mutual check created between the great branches 
 of the government. 
 
 ARTICLE II. 
 
 Of the Executive. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 "1. The executive power shall be vested in a president of the United 
 States of America. He shall hold his office during the term of four years, and, 
 together with the vice-president, chosen for the same term, be elected as 
 follows : " 
 
 An office which is merely ministerial, that is, has to execute 
 what others have ordained, as that of our president, is better 
 filled by one head than by several. Our federal laws are dis- 
 cussed or enacted by a college or assembly, with the help of 
 committees, and executed by one responsible man, in Greek 
 called a monarch. This brings unity, energy, and precision in 
 this business. That ambition may not creep in and spoil the 
 man and business, he serves only four years, and therefore 
 must be elected. The simplicity and business-like character 
 of our constitution appear pre-eminent in omitting all titles, 
 in this instance also. There was no example of such a single- 
 ness on earth, when this constitution was set up. Our next 
 door neighbors have not learned from this constitution, other- 
 wise Santa Anna would not have assumed the title of highness. 
 
THE PRESIDENT. 83 
 
 Still, our president has just the same business to perform about 
 which kings and emperors make so much ado for nothing. 
 While we are not given to empty titles, we should, however, 
 not deny the president, the elected responsible head of our fed- 
 eral government, his due respect. I know that you, my daugh- 
 ters, and a great many of your sex, do not like the political 
 papers on account of their systematic vulgar attacks on the 
 president and other officers, just as if they were the common 
 mark for the missiles of malice and bad taste. A public officer 
 who is not respected, is without real authority. Englishmen 
 have good reason to grumble, and if they please, ridicule their 
 obsolete feudal state-affairs and wigged officials ; but is there 
 any thing obsolete or ridiculous in our political system ? As 
 long as our president acts constitutionally, and as well as he is 
 able to do, with the help of his numerous advisers, he deserves 
 general respect. The licentious vulgar press corrupts the taste 
 of the masses, and is the cause of villanyand mob violence. 
 
 According to the wording of this clause, the president shall 
 hold his office during the term of four years only. Washing- 
 ton, and several other presidents, have been elected for a second 
 term. With the increase of the population, the parties have 
 gained strength. Party influence may now be coveted by a 
 president in favor of his re-election. At present, Washington 
 would not have consented to a re-election. This is the cause why 
 some wish that the absolute one-term system, either of four or six 
 years may be adopted. The constitution being silent about a 
 second term, or re-election, we have to understand it as being in 
 favor of one absolute term, which, no doubt, is right ; for if not, 
 one person may as well, from four years to four years, be re- 
 elected to the end of his life. 
 
 The Swiss, probably to avoid the excitement which accompa- 
 nies our presidential elections, have, in their new constitution 
 of 1848, (a good imitation of ours,) made the heads of the de- 
 partments elective, who then chose one of their number as presi- 
 dent. This, however, is against the principle which serves as a 
 guide in appointing officials. Those who act merely as clerks, 
 and not as representatives of the government, should never be 
 elected. Our constitution is, in this regard, perfect, and has been, 
 thus far, misunderstood by the Swiss. 
 
84 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 LETTER XXI. 
 
 Electors. How Chosen. Qualification of Presidential Candidates. 
 
 THE constitution disposes further : 
 
 " 2. Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature thereof 
 may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of senators and 
 representatives to which the state may be entitled in the Congress ; but no 
 senator or representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under 
 the United States, shall be appointed an elector." 
 
 " 3. [As amended.] The electors shall meet in their respective states, and 
 vote by ballot for president and vice-president, one of whom, at least, shall 
 not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves ; they shall name in 
 their ballots the person vote.d for as president, and in distinct ballots the per- 
 son voted for as vice-president, and they shall make distinct lists of all per- 
 sons voted for as president, and of all persons voted for as vice-president, and 
 of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and 
 transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to 
 the president of the senate ; the president of the senate shall, in the presence of 
 the senate and house of representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes 
 shall then be counted ; the person having the greatest number of votes for 
 president shall be the president, if such number be a majority of the whole 
 number of electors appointed ; and if no person have such majority, then 
 from the persons having the highest numbers, not exceeding three, on the list 
 of those voted for as president, the house of representatives shall choose imme- 
 diately, by ballot, the president ; but in choosing the president, the votes shall 
 be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote ; a 
 quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two 
 thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a 
 choice ; and if the house of representatives shall not choose a president, 
 whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day 
 of March next following, then the vice-president shall act as president, as in 
 the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the president. The 
 person having the greatest number of votes as vice-president, shall be the vice- 
 president, if such a number be a majority of the whole number of electors ap- 
 pointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers 
 on the list the senate shall choose the vice-president ; a quorum for the pur- 
 pose shall consist of two thirds of the whole number of senators, and a ma- 
 jority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no persons 
 constitutionally ineligible to the office of president shall be eligible to that of 
 vice-president of the United States." 
 
PRESIDENTIAL QUALIFICATIONS. 85 
 
 Tliis is all plain. Still the action of the electors is fore- 
 stalled by the parties, which are now better organized than at 
 the outset of the federal government. They preconcert the 
 legal elections, and propose the candidates, so that the activity 
 'of the presidential electors is in the main a mere form, for the 
 loyalty to party forbids the electors to make a change in their 
 creed or policy. 
 
 " 4. The Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors, and 
 the day on which they shall give their votes, which day shall be the same 
 throughout the United States." 
 
 This arrangement is calculated to prevent fraud, at present 
 the vote is to be cast throughout the United States on the first 
 Tuesday of November. 
 
 " 5. No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United 
 States at the time of the adoption of this constitution, shall be eligible to the 
 office of president, neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall 
 not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a 
 resident within the United States." 
 
 It is considered unquestionable that the chief executive 
 officer should be a citizen of the United States, and a native. 
 There never has been a president elected younger than forty 
 years. Mr. Pierce was forty -nine years old when elected, and 
 so was Mr. Polk ; all other presidents were over fifty, and some 
 over sixty years old at the time of election. The fire and am- 
 bition of youth is little suitable for an office like that of our 
 president. He must be a tried man, otherwise he will either 
 not bear the burdens of this office, or become a mere instru- 
 ment in the hands of designing men. This, according to the 
 results of the elections, people seem to appreciate well. 
 
THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 LETTER XXII. 
 
 Presidents advanced in Age. Mrs. Phelps. Mrs. Strickland. Mrs. 
 Willard. Mrs. Howe. Mrs. Hale. Presidential Vacancy. Acting 
 President. Non-election. Salary. Honesty of the American Presi- 
 dents. Oath. Spirit of Urbanity. 
 
 IT is, perhaps, superfluous to mention, that although a citizen, 
 thirty-five years old, is eligible as president, there never has 
 been so young a man elected. Our presidents were, as you know 
 from history, all advanced in age, a proof that people are well 
 aware that business experience^ and knowledge of the world are, 
 besides honesty and common sense, indispensable qualities of a 
 president of the United States. I should have inclosed this remark 
 as a P. S., in my last letter, but did not prefer to imitate here your 
 letter fashion, my daughters, much as I admire letters written by 
 ladies, for they alone understand well how to write them. I have 
 waited long enough for letters on the constitution from a Mrs. 
 Phelps, Mrs. Strickland, Mrs. Willard, Mrs. Howe, or Mrs. Hale, 
 but think the time has now come to try my skill. Let me then 
 go on : 
 
 " 6. In case of the removal of the president from office, or of his death, 
 resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, 
 the same shall devolve on the vice-president, and the Congress may by law 
 provide for the case of removal, death, resignation, or inability, both of the 
 president and vice-president, declaring what officer shall then act as president, 
 and such officer shall act accordingly, until the disability be removed, or a 
 president shall be elected." 
 
 In this regard, the law is that the intermediate president of the 
 senate, or the speaker of the house of representatives, shall be 
 president. In regard to non-election, the constitution is silent. 
 But the law is just, and required for the preservation of the 
 Union, and the regular management of the public business. 
 
 " 7. The president shall, at stated times, receive for his services, a compen- 
 sation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the period for 
 
PRESIDENTIAL OATH.* 87 
 
 which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that period 
 any other emolument from the United States, or any of them." 
 
 ' The salary of the president is twenty -five thousand dollars, and 
 that of the vice-president eight thousand dollars per annum. In 
 spite of the peculiar liberty especially enjoyed by the opposition 
 party of showering clouds of calumnies daily upon this function- 
 ary, there is no instance on record that one of our presidents has 
 abused his station to accumulate money from spurious resources. 
 Some of them died poor. They were among the best of men. 
 
 " 8. Before he enters on the execution of his office, he shall take the fol- 
 lowing oath or affirmation : 
 
 " I do solemnly swear, (or affirm,) that I will faithfully execute the office of 
 president of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, 
 protect, and defend the constitution of the United States." 
 
 You will notice with great pleasure that the form of this oath 
 or affirmation is made acceptable to the members of whatever 
 denomination or confession. 
 
 The spirit of urbanity and liberality breathing through this or- 
 ganic law is not so much appreciated at home as it deserves. 
 What true and noble humanity filled the mind and heart of those 
 who framed it. It stands still alone among and above the nu- 
 merous constitutions since made in Europe and America. 
 
 I feel happy to be at the head of a family, whose members, 
 without exception, feel thankful to the great and good men who 
 devised the constitution. 
 
88 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 LETTER XXIII. 
 
 Presidential Functions. Commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy and 
 Militia. Opinions of the Heads of the Departments. Reprieves. 
 Pardons. The Union a Government, no League. Prompt Protection 
 analogous to Police. State Governors Commanders-in-chief. Treaties. 
 Consent of two-thirds of the Senate. Jefferson. Hamilton. Re- 
 moval from Office. Treaty with France. French and English Alli- 
 ance. Slave Treaty. Vacancies. 
 
 WE shall now hear something about the proper business of the 
 president. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 " 1. The president shall be commander-in-chief of the army and navy of 
 the United States, and of the militia of the several states when called into 
 the actual service of the United States ; he may require the opinion, in writ- 
 ing, of the principal officer in each of the executive departments, upon any 
 subject relating to the duties of their respective offices, and he shall have 
 power to grant reprieves and pardons for offences against the United States, 
 except in cases of impeachment." 
 
 This is plain without comment. The phraseology of the first 
 part of this clause seems to pre-suppose a United States army 
 separate from the militia. If so, our little army is all right. As 
 matters are now, it seems that we can not much longer enjoy 
 our civil liberty without an army of the United States, because 
 we are fond now of enforcing our will with weapons, instead of 
 confiding to the ballot-box. Look at Kansas, California, etc. 
 He who is at the head of the executive must be commander-in- 
 chief of the forces subservient to the executive. The second clause 
 pre-supposes different executive departments, as of war, navy, 
 treasury, state, interior, with proper heads, as advisers of the 
 president. 
 
 Our Union being constituted as a government, and not as a 
 mere league, the executive acts, in all cases belonging to its 
 sphere, analogous to the usual state executives, police included. 
 Should foreign nations attack our territory, molest our citizens 
 
PRESIDENTIAL DUTIES. 89 
 
 when travelling abroad, or stop and destroy our ships on the oceans, 
 in all such cases it is the duty of the executive to .defend our in- 
 terests, rights, and honor, with all disposable means at hand, with- 
 out waiting for legislative action, because, for this purpose, we 
 have executives. They are instituted parts of the government, 
 acting within their sphere independently. The state constitutions 
 make their governors commanders-in-chief of the militia, and 
 navy too, which, if it refers to war, seems to clash with this 
 section, in some respect at least. 
 
 " 2. He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the 
 senate, to make treaties, provided two-thirds of the senators present concur ; 
 and he shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the senate, 
 shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the 
 supreme court, and all other officers of the United States whose appoint- 
 ments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established 
 by law ; but the congress may by law vest the appointment of such inferior 
 officers as they think proper in the president alone, in the courts of law, or 
 in the heads of departments. 
 
 Instead of a separate council, as in Great Britain, the constitu- 
 tion designates the senate as the adviser of the president, in cer- 
 tain instances. Our history shows what importance has been 
 given to the heads of departments, as for example, under General 
 Washington's presidency on the National bank question. Jeffer- 
 son, then secretary of state, was against such a bank, Hamilton, 
 secretary of the treasury, in favor of one. The first became thus 
 the patron of the democrats, the second that of the whigs. And 
 ever since, the local partisans respectively oppose t>r approve of 
 such a bank, because Jefferson was against and Hamilton for it. 
 The executive concurrent activity of the senate is, fortunately, 
 not so distinctly apparent. The president, not the heads of the 
 departments, is responsible for his official acts. In monarchies, the 
 prince is not responsible, but the heads of the departments. When 
 the better performance of the public affairs require it, the presi- 
 dent may delegate his authority, namely, in time of war. 
 
 The pardoning power can properly be exercised only by the 
 executive, because it has directly nothing to do with the law and 
 sentence. As the laws of procedure are at present, indeed, more 
 in favor of the accused than of society or the accuser, it should 
 hardly ever be exercised, because it invariably interferes with es- 
 tablished justice and the judiciary. This pardoning power is a 
 
90 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 different thing in monarchies, where the laws are made more in 
 favor of the king and state than the accused. The advice of the 
 senate divides or lessens the responsibility of the president. 
 
 A treaty is a compact made by nations through their govern- 
 ments. It would have been an anomaly to give the treaty power 
 to the executive exclusively, while all our laws are made by an 
 assemblage of legislators ; hence, the advice and consent of the 
 senate. The house of representatives has nothing to do with 
 treaties, but may be required to enact in consequence of treaties 
 financial laws, without giving them the right to alter such treaties. 
 President and senate appoint diplomatic and other public officers, 
 without concurrence of the house. The clause is well devised. 
 The small branch of the legislature is well adapted for a state 
 council. The appointing power includes the removing power ; it 
 is lodged with the president according to a sound doctrine, for the 
 constitution is silent on it. If the concurrence of the senate was 
 required for a removal from office, this part of the responsible 
 office of the president would or could be surrounded with vexa- 
 tious delays, obnoxious to the public service. To trouble the 
 senate with advising about the appointment of postmasters, and 
 the like officials, would be superfluous, because a refusal would 
 be probably resented by a delay in nominating. Engagements 
 for offices in state or private relations, depends much upon per- 
 sonal acquaintance, qualifications, and inclination of favor. The 
 president must be at liberty to appoint officials who correspond 
 with these requisites. This is the custom everywhere. 
 
 If a convention or treaty with a foreign government concerns 
 a certain business, the first ceases when the latter has been 
 achieved. The French government found it in its interest from 
 national jealousy, to support the American colonies in their strug- 
 gle for independence against England, and entered into a treaty 
 with them about it, with this struggle terminated the treaty. There 
 is nothing entangling in such special arrangements, just as little as 
 in a mutual support of neighbors in case of a conflagration. But 
 a treaty like that known under the name of Bulwer and Clayton 
 treaty, which stipulates that the Isthmus shall remain for ever as 
 it is, and neither occupied by ourselves nor the English, antici- 
 pates business, events, and changes, over which we must have free 
 control at all times, and is, therefore, eminently entangling and 
 
APPOINTMENTS. 91 
 
 undiplomatic. Turkey was wantonly attacked by the Czar ; 
 France and England allied themselves to help the aggressed. 
 This successfully done, according to sound doctrine, the alliance 
 should cease. If it is prolonged by intrigue, one of the parties will 
 feel the consequence of the blunder in season. 
 
 Our government entered into a treaty with England, France, 
 Spain, etc., to stop the slave-trade in Africa, by keeping the coast 
 blockaded for this purpose. While we keep watch on the coast, 
 the English, French, and Spaniards, carry on the trade under an- 
 other name, or indirectly. Such a treaty is false diplomacy. Its 
 object ought to be reached at home. With the import of slaves 
 ceases the export alone. 
 
 " 3. The president shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may happen 
 during the recess of the senate, by granting commissions which shall expire 
 at the end of their next session." 
 
 The business order requires such a proviso. If a temporary 
 officer should be rejected by the senate, justice and propriety, or 
 comity, require that the president should not appoint him again 
 during the recess of the senate. If he does the constitution does 
 not distinctly forbid it the house of representatives, keeping the 
 purse-strings, may withhold the appropriation, and thus dispose 
 the president to agree with the senate. It is the practice that the 
 president can not create the office of minister during the recess of 
 the senate without its consent. 
 
 So far as I am acquainted with the business connection between 
 our presidents and the senate, it has always been of a friendly 
 character. Why should it be otherwise under such a constitution ? 
 
92 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 LETTER XXIV. 
 
 Messages. Ambassadors. Commissions. Chateaubriand. Impeach- 
 ment of President, Vice-President, and other Officers, for Treason, Bribery, 
 or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors. Pensions. 
 
 SOON we shall have done with our mighty president and then 
 turn a new leaf, and make acquaintance with the grave federal 
 judiciary. 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 " 1 . He shall, from time to time, give to the Congress information of the 
 state of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as 
 he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary occasions, 
 convene both houses, or either of them, and in case of disagreement between 
 them, with respect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such 
 time as he shall think proper ; he shall receive ambassadors and other public 
 ministers ;' he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed, and shall 
 commission all the officers of the United States." 
 
 The custom of written messages originated with President Jef- 
 ferson. It affords a timely opportunity to lay down a certain 
 plan for legislative action, based upon necessity, business experi- 
 ence, and principles, necessary for large legislative bodies, whose 
 members, too often, bring but vague notions about the constitu- 
 tional public business to "Washington and other capitols. These 
 messages and the reports of the chief heads of the departments are 
 considered our most valuable papers. They best prove the abili- 
 ties which have managed our public affairs. In return, Congress 
 has the right to call, at any time, for information and executive 
 documents. 
 
 He receives ambassadors, dismisses, or rejects them too, as he 
 sees proper. The care that the laws be faithfully executed would 
 be a useless phrase without the power of instantaneous removal in 
 the case of malpractice. 
 
 Many of these ministerial provisoes, adapted to present usages 
 are subject to the reforming influence of time. If the government 
 should prefer to appoint only consuls, and dispense with ambassa- 
 dors entirely, as, indeed, superfluous in a good political system, 
 
PENSIONS. 93 
 
 according to the opinion of the late ambassador, Count Chateau- 
 briand, who said, " le terns des ambassades est passe et celui des 
 consulates arrive," our constitution would not be against the adopt- 
 ing of such reforms. 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 "1. The president, vice-president, and all civil officers of the United 
 States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of 
 treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors." 
 
 This clause does not exclude or prohibit removals on other 
 grounds and thus ends the article which makes our four years 
 king. 
 
 Salaries and pensions are an important item in our age, where 
 every man of a little wit strives to make a fortune as fast as pos- 
 sible. Civilians and soldiers also love to accumulate. Good 
 services ought to be adequately remunerated, either by fees or 
 annual salaries. The first are prescribed, in regard to the latter 
 the rule is, that they preclude all fees and extras for office out- 
 lays, travelling, etc., if not expressly reserved. There are a 
 number of offices which require very little regular office atten- 
 tion, and are honorable and influential, which should be therefore 
 unsalaried. All town (mayor) and county (overseer) executives 
 belong to this class. The occupiers should imitate the example 
 of Washington, who never accepted a salary, but only his outlays 
 restituted ; mere ambitious speculators would be thus kept off, 
 and retired citizens of standing induced to devote their time to 
 such functions. The English fashion of allowing high and low 
 aristocratic lazy officials to appoint deputies, who do their work, 
 should be discarded with us, because it produces sinecures and 
 an inclination to extort. 
 
 Is it impossible to organize the common defence of our Union 
 without the help of the European pension system ? We have no 
 standing army in the proper European sense of the word, but 
 only some troops to guard the forts and boundaries, who are 
 comparatively well paid. We pay per head over one thousand 
 dollars, while Great Britain pays about four hundred dollars, 
 France, one hundred and fifty dollars, Austria, one hundred and 
 ten dollars, and Russia eighty dollars, army and naval expenses. 
 To keep the large armies in Europe in such pay as ours, would 
 exhaust the resources of the wealthiest nation at once. There- 
 
94 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 fore they make their use of pensions, orders, badges of nobility, 
 certain offices reserved by law for soldiers out of service, etc., to 
 make it acceptable and popular. Moreover, the princes, when 
 fighting against each other, to promote their interests and that 
 of the aristocracy and opium dealers, make their soldiers believe 
 they fight for civilization and Christianity. En passant, it must 
 puzzle the government in London, fighting for civilization and 
 Christianity, when General Outram, after the occupation of 
 Lucknow, declared in a public proclamation to the people of 
 Oude, that the government had not the least idea of making war 
 against the religion of the Hindoos ! Again, while we have 
 nothing to do with such things, is it, I ask, impossible to pro- 
 vide for the common defence of this home of the proud freemen 
 of America, without the pension system, invented by European 
 princes of the school of Machiavelli, to keep standing armies, 
 that is, human machines without whose prop their thrones would 
 fare like that of the king of Oude ? 
 
 I wish we could, for soon will civil pensions in the Union 
 and states become fashionable too. There would then be a 
 degrading, corrupting precedent, less in the country. 
 
 LETTER XXV. 
 
 Officers, their desire to earn Money like the rest. Parties kept together by 
 monied interest. Majority in Elections. Right to the Spoils. Oppo- 
 sition to the Party in Power. Court Favor in Monarchies. Election Ex- 
 penses. Difficulties in filling Offices. Catherine de Medicis. Chancel- 
 lor Hopital. Selling of Offices. Swiss sell Offices. Self-government 
 curtails Offices. Paul. Parties outside the Constitution. Platforms. 
 Logrolling. Party should cease in Congress when sworn in. Presiden- 
 tial Patronage. Political Martyrs a Nuisance. Factitious Speaking. 
 Demagogues. American Women. Benjamin Franklin. Office-seeking. 
 
 BEFORE we part with the chief of our Union, the successor of 
 Washington, I must write a word or two more on his business. 
 It is his duty to appoint a large number of officers, who must be 
 paid for services. These, naturally, are as fond of making money 
 as the rest of us. Liberty of industry produces industrious, specu- 
 
OFFICES. 95 
 
 lative, perseveringly accumulative business men. Wholesome and 
 well-executed laws make man trusty, generous in credit, giving, 
 expansive, and associative. Despotic and arbitrary governments, 
 on the other hand, cripple this spirit in man, make him sly, beg- 
 garly, distrustful, hoarding, in one word Chinese. We should 
 then not expect that our officers to be less speculative than the rest, 
 nor should we grumble if many are eager to get an office. This 
 desire for office and money is the sole cause of parties, and the 
 glue that makes them cohere or stick together. Principles never 
 do such things, for there seldom agree two men about one. But 
 about an office, with a good salary, thousands may have the same 
 opinion and sharp appetite. To get at the offices in our republic 
 we must be in the majority ; to get that we must organize or join 
 a party. When one party has succeeded to be in the majority in 
 the presidential election, it has, as the phrase is, a right to the 
 spoils that is, offices, salaries, emoluments, etc. ; because it is the 
 custom that the president of the victorious party elects among his 
 paity friends the officers for the offices in his gift. This, however, 
 is the reacting cause, why, from that moment, the party left in the 
 minority, and, of course, out of office, rallies and strains every 
 nerve to recover the lost fleshpots of course, an impossible thing 
 without clubbing and party organization. This is natural. It is 
 the same in Europe with one great difference, that the party in 
 power is permanent ; because the chief of a monarchical govern- 
 ment is hereditary, and retains therefore loyal officers for life, 
 while others, not loyal, never can get any office at all. There is, 
 of course, little excitement about office. Court favor takes the 
 place of party. There are no election expenses which often 
 amount with us to considerable sums, as ten per cent of the sal- 
 aries and more. They are one of the causes of raising the salaries 
 of late. The charges of the political brokers, I mentioned in 
 another letter, are now much higher than previously. 
 
 In republics and monarchies prevails the same difficulty about 
 the filling of offices with the right men. One of the best French 
 statesmen, Mr. Hopital, chancellor under the profligate Catherine 
 de Medici*, preferred the selling or farming out of the offices, to 
 deprive the vicious court of the occasion to fill them with its crea- 
 tures. In several Swiss cantons the same policy has been adopted 
 to preclude hungry office-seekers, and stop their hunting for office. 
 
96 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 The best help promises self-government, self-control in this diffi- 
 culty. If each is his own governor in the right direction, he, of 
 course, needs none to govern him. St. Paul understood this per- 
 fectly well. Virtue and godliness makes man free, self-governing, 
 independent. No doubt about that, my children. 
 
 I remarked, in another place, that our parties are outside the 
 pale of the constitutions ; they are ignored by them ; they can not 
 alter the constitutions. Their platforms, promises, resolves, stump 
 speeches, etc., at election times, have merely an eye upon the ma- 
 jority, which promises offices, salaries, jobs, etc. They may ex- 
 ercise a great influence upon the making of laws and their execu- 
 tion, if the officials are partial, unmindful of their obligation and 
 office oaths, and winking at partisan iniquity. Logrolling laws 
 are inseparable from spurious political business. 
 
 LETTER XXVI. 
 
 Judiciary. Supreme Court. Inferior Courts. Salaries. Appointed 
 during Good Behavior. Judiciary a Product of State. Elective Judges 
 inclining to favor Mobism. Public Morals under an Elective Judiciary. 
 
 As there is a necessity of distributing some kinds of judicial 
 business among certain districts, called towns, counties, etc., so 
 there is a necessity of giving a certain class of quarrels and dis- 
 putes and crimes to Congress to settle them according to the laws. 
 Also, the courts established by Congress have nothing to do with 
 ideal justice or with the realization of moral problems, but only 
 to execute the laws, or to decide what is right or wrong. These 
 laws may be sometimes repugnant to the feelings : still, if they 
 are enacted by the legislative bodies in due form, they must be 
 executed and obeyed as long as they are valid. What kind of 
 judicial business shall belong to Congress you will learn by the 
 following : 
 
 ARTICLE III. 
 
 Of the Judiciary. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 "1. The judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one 
 supreme court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time 
 
JUDICIARY. 97 
 
 to time ordain and establish. The judges, both of the supreme and inferior 
 courts, shall hold their offices during good behavior, and shall, at stated 
 times, receive for their services a compensation, which shall not be dimin- 
 ished during their continuance in office." 
 
 This is the third branch of the institution called federal govern- 
 ment or government of the United States. We have seen that 
 the president appoints these judges with the advice and consent 
 of the senate, which is sound doctrine, because the judiciary is the 
 product of the state institution, and not of society. It is against 
 the well-understood principles of politics to make the judiciary 
 dependent upon popular elections. The federal constitution is in 
 this regard not so well appreciated at home as it ought to be. 
 The truth is, people are in need of justice, and erect for this pur- 
 pose an institution called state, with a constitution. Out of this 
 institution comes the judiciary, in order to make it entirely inde- 
 pendent of the people, of whose acts and deeds- and obligations it 
 shall judge. It is a state right or duty of government to provide 
 a judiciary ; because the principal aim of this institution is the reali- 
 zation of justice, which most of the people who come in business 
 contact with the judiciary do not like at all. Public morals will 
 unavoidably come to a low ebb in states where the judiciary is 
 elective. The constitution creates the United States supreme 
 court, but leaves it wisely to Congress to organize it and the need- 
 ful inferior court.-, according to time and circumstances. The 
 supreme court held at Washington is the highest legal author- 
 ity. It construes and adjudges the constitution and the laws of 
 the United States supremely. What belongs to the laws of nations 
 comes under the sole cognizance of this tribunal. It has ever 
 borne a noble character and enjoyed universal confidence in the 
 United States and abroad. 
 
 Some complain that transactions before this court are too ex- 
 pensive and too long protracted. This is applicable to all courts 
 organized after the English fashion ; because they act not under 
 strict codes of procedure, but under their own rules. Still, it is 
 in the nature of cases coming under the jurisdiction of this court 
 that they are complicated and therefore time-absorbing. 
 
 The appointment of the judges during good behavior should be 
 also the rule for the municipal judges. 
 
 5 
 
98 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 LETTER XXVII. 
 
 National Judicial Business. Court of Claims. Checks upon State Wars. 
 LET us continue our reading. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 " 1. The judicial power shall extend to all cases in law and equity arising 
 under this constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made, or 
 which shall be made under their authority; to all cases affecting ambassadors 
 other public ministers, and consuls; to all cases of admiralty and maritime 
 jurisdiction; to controversies to which the United States shall be a party; 
 to controversies between two or more states ; between a state and citizens of 
 another state ; between citizens of different states ; between citizens of the 
 same state claiming lands under grants of different states, and between a 
 state or the citizens thereof, and foreign states, citizens, or subjects/' 
 
 From this array of business which belongs to the competency 
 of the supreme court, claims against a state by citizens of another 
 state, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign state, according to 
 the eleventh amendment to the constitution, are excluded, because 
 such claims do not partake of the character of national affairs, 
 inasmuch as a state when sued takes the place of a private person 
 or corporation. But it is desirable that provision should be made 
 for a court adjudging such controversies, wherein the state is 
 defendant, as a substitute for the mere pleasure of the legislature 
 in such instances. Congress has felt the necessity of such a court 
 and created the United States court of claims, which should be a 
 real independent court, and not a mere committee, as it stands at 
 present. Neither the supreme court nor the lower tribunals are 
 above law, but only the interpreters in regard to the final meaning 
 of the law, without willing anything. This is a power inherent 
 to all courts. 
 
 It has been maintained that a state can not be sued by a private 
 person, because it is inherent in the nature of " sovereignty " not 
 to be amenable to any private person. This may hold good in 
 Europe, but even there not generally, because the continental 
 governments have designated by law certain courts before which 
 
JUDICIAL POWER. 99 
 
 claims raised against them or their treasuries, and refused, may 
 be tried like all other claims. Even in Great Britain, which is 
 in all these things much behind time, the chancellor has some 
 authority to decide on such claims. A monarch, called sove- 
 reign a thing we have not who pretends that he got by the 
 grace of God the right to manage the political affairs of the 
 people as his property, is very likely to pretend, too, that he can 
 never do wrong, and, of course, can not afford to be sued. Our 
 governments have nothing in common with this specious doctrine. 
 They are agents, and when they, as such, bind the state, the state 
 must suffer to be sued like other bound people who refuse to fulfil 
 their obligations. 
 
 This section makes the supreme court the arbiter between in- 
 dependent states ; and this eminently-wise arrangement is the 
 reason that there can not be from any cause, however provoking, 
 a war between the several states. Yes, my dear children, fond as 
 some of the male gender are of fighting, there can be no war 
 between Massachusetts and South Carolina, or between Michigan 
 and Ohio, or California and Oregon. The supreme court is the 
 arbiter in all our more or less wicked state-troubles. What an 
 inestimable blessing, then, is our Union for a large branch of 
 the human family ! Where is the like ? Without this constitu- 
 tional guaranty of peace there would be eternal fighting between 
 our parties. Hence the opinions and decisions of the supreme 
 court are cheerfully considered as entirely conclusive and final by 
 the people. 
 
 The house of representatives excels in such speculative or log- 
 rolling law propositions, against which most of the presidents 
 have battled with their vetoes successfully. It is significant that 
 the same popular branch of Congress is indifferent in regard to 
 laws which bear upon the better administration of justice, as the 
 adjustment of claims, regulation of the territories, etc. Large 
 legislative bodies seldom answer to their real purpose. The 
 members of the legislative bodies who transact the national busi- 
 ness from mere party views, violate their constitutional duty and 
 oath. Party may help one to a seat in Congress, but when sworn 
 in party influence should cease. 
 
 The patronage of our president amounts, at a general estima- 
 tion, to eighty odd millions of dollars. There is much attraction 
 
100 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 in such a sum. We have not to complain that matters are so. 
 Governments are a necessary evil, required for the lawless and 
 disobedient, or, as a theologian would say, are the result of sin. 
 The burden can only be relieved by self-government. The more 
 of that the less of public business, offices, salaries, taxes, etc. 
 
 You see, my children, why we have parties, and will have them 
 as long as there are offices. The rotation in office, promoted by 
 frequent elections, checks the tendency to become hereditary, but 
 increases party virulence. Factions, by trying to enforce their 
 plans and platforms, implicitly admit that they are useless in the 
 ordinary way of political business. 
 
 Martyrs for^ party purposes are a nuisance in the United States, 
 because there is no hinderance to joining or forming parties on 
 principles. If an inconsiderate speaker on party issues gets 
 whipped, he is as guilty as the inconsiderate whipper. A facti- 
 tious or rebellious speaker commits a glaring contempt of law 
 much more dangerous to society than a mere contempt of a court. 
 
 But why write to you, my children, and you, my daughters, 
 especially, on such things ? My reasons are, as you may suppose, 
 not to entangle you in party affairs, very commonly but very 
 wrongly called politics, but to show you exactly what they are, 
 that you may be able, in exciting times which grow upon us, to 
 converse understandingly on them and inform your children about 
 them. Further, to explain to you what kind of men those are 
 who make the regular managers of parties, often called politi- 
 cians by trade, or demagogues ; and to show what real difference 
 there is between public and private life, and how speculations in 
 offices may turn out to be visionary and often ruinous to families. 
 
 If I succeed in that, I shall feel myself well rewarded. The 
 American women should be in public affairs what the senate is to 
 the president, friendly counsels to their husbands and sons. 
 Those may, in the end, if meritorious, as certainly be called to 
 offices of trust as Benjamin Franklin, who never had anything to 
 do with party on this account, and was almost constantly in the 
 service of his country. 
 
JURY TRIALS. 101 
 
 LETTER XXVIII. 
 
 National original Jurisdiction. Appellate Jurisdiction. Sovereign scru- 
 ples. Jurisdiction makes no Subjects. Jury Trial of Crimes. Place of 
 Trial. Abolitionists. Magna Charta. Runneymede. 
 
 THE constitution farther ordains : 
 
 "2. In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls, 
 and those in which a state shall be party, the supreme court shall have orig- 
 inal jurisdiction. In all the other cases before mentioned, the supreme court 
 shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such excep- 
 tions, and under such regulations as the Congress shall make." 
 
 This clause places consuls and ambassadors justly on the same 
 legal footing, and designates the supreme court as one of original 
 jurisdiction, that is, of the first resort. Some say that this pro- 
 vision brings the states within the sovereignty of the Union, but 
 this is not the fact, because lawsuits do not alter stations, they 
 merely refer to doubtful obligations or the right or wrong of a case, 
 and the bearing of the laws upon it. The dubious case alone 
 goes to the decision of the supreme court and not the state or gov- 
 ernment. The word sovereignty, obsolete with us and not occur- 
 ring in this constitution, irritates unnecessarily the feelings of zeal- 
 ous state-rights champions and partisans, who make political cap- 
 ital out of it. Jurisdiction makes no subjects, but means only tli 
 authority given to a court over certain civil and criminal cases in 
 a certain district. There is no court for a man who shuns law- 
 suits and evil deeds. 
 
 "3. The trials of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by 
 jury, and such trial shall be held in the state where the said crimes shall have 
 been committed ; but Avhen not committed within any state, the trial shall be 
 at such place or places as the Congress may by law have directed." 
 
 This clause, together with two amendments, which you will find 
 annexed to the constitution, but do not properly belong to it, or- 
 dains that in crimes committed against the laws of the United 
 States, a trial by jury shall take place, just as in all other trials 
 of crimes committed against state laws. This clause has been un- 
 justly misapplied by the abolitionists for party purposes. There 
 
102 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 is a clause in the constitution to which I shall devote a separate 
 letter on account of its celebrity in the annals of our political par- 
 ties, which ordains that fugitives from service shall be delivered 
 up to him who justly claims them. The Congressional law based 
 upon this clause, does not prescribe an indictment or trial by jury, 
 usual in crimes, but a simple ministerial or clerical examination 
 of the claim, to prove the identity of the claimed fugitive servant, 
 whereupon the return of the same is ordered, or, in the reverse 
 case, the fugitive is free. And this, the law commonly called the 
 fugitive slave law, very properly ordains because there is no 
 crime at all in question, but a mere breach of an obligation which 
 all over the world is treated as a mere police or cfvil case. Your 
 servants do not commit a crime when taking French leave from 
 your house. But the abolitionist party objects to this procedure, 
 as depriving the fugitive from labor or service of the privilege of 
 the trial by jury, or, in other words, they insist that such a fugitive 
 ought to be indicted and tried like a criminal. Even you, my dear 
 daughters, will discover that behind this partisan manoeuvre is 
 hidden the intention to abuse the trial by jury in favor of the 
 guilty party, the fugitive from service, so that of this trial by jury 
 I might repeat the same that I remarked on the habeas corpus 
 privilege that it is apt to be used to relieve the guilty rather than 
 protect the innocent according to law. People at Runneymede, 
 when they had conquered the magna charta from their lordly 
 prince, probably never thought that the privilege of jury trial would 
 be, as our abolitionists do, insisted upon in such instances. 
 
 These letters open a deep insight into the administration of es- 
 tablished justice, the bulwark of civil liberty. The federal consti- 
 tution appreciates it well ; her framers well knew that state insti- 
 tutions are useless burdens if they do not bring a prompt admin- 
 istration of justice according to law. 
 
 But it seems as if the present generation has lost much of the 
 innate senser of justice. A restoration of it can do no harm. 
 
TREASON. 103 
 
 LETTER XXIX. 
 
 Treason, no Attainder. Forfeiture. Kansas. Utah. Madness, its fair 
 play. Rebellion. Vigilance Committees. Major Andre. Washing- 
 ton and his Steward. Justice. 
 
 You will learn now what the constitution says about treason. 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 "1. Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war 
 against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. 
 
 " 2. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two 
 witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court. 
 
 " 3. The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason, 
 but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture, ex- 
 cept during the life of the person attainted." 
 
 These provisoes are taken from an English statute, whose severe 
 and barbarous features our constitution has obliterated. By the 
 corruption of blood is meant the destruction of all inheritable 
 qualities, so that no one can claim anything from a person attainted, 
 that is, accused, or through him. The war must be actually levied 
 to constitute treason. There never has been a person accused and 
 convicted of treason since the establishment of the constitution, 
 except lately in Kansas and Utah. As we are situated, enjoying 
 as we do the largest amount of natural liberty man may claim, 
 overwhelmed as we are with privileges and arrangements securing 
 freedom, it is madness to resort to brute force in our Union in re- 
 gard to private or public affairs or offices. But even madness, 
 often the precursor of destruction, will have, now-a-days, fair play. 
 It is party, the madness of the many for the benefit of the few, 
 which only can be capable of treason. . 
 
 Of course, treason aims a blow at the state institution or govern- 
 ment. Rebellion goes not so far but is an insurrection against 
 lawful authority. Under this category comes the vigilance com- 
 mittee of San Francisco, however necessary its organization may 
 be for the community. Revolution implies a radical change in 
 the government, such one as has been successfully tried by the 
 
104 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 North American English colonists. All these movements are 
 symptoms of social diseases. Their main cause is utter neglect 
 of justice. 
 
 Major Andre, of revolutionary memory, was found guilty of 
 treason, and punished by death, according to law. When Gen- 
 eral Washington heard that his steward at Mount Vernon had 
 given relief to English troops, he reprimanded him, although he 
 saved, by his comforting the enemies of the country, the home of 
 his noble master from devastation, because he had, in the eyes 
 of Washington, acted rather treasonably. Justice, the first of all 
 virtues, commands: give each his due and injure none. By sup- 
 porting the English, the steward had injured his country. So 
 thought Washington. His steward thought that he acted prudent- 
 ly and according to circumstances, and, besides, in accordance with 
 the religious precept: "love your enemies." But Washington 
 held that justice, according to law, is first and paramount. And 
 this is perfectly true, also in regard to all mo: al and religious du- 
 ties ; because without justice there is no real morality, no real 
 chanty, no real religion. Without it the practice of religion is in 
 constant peril from the side of ignorance, violence, organized 
 superstition, priestcraft, fanaticism, etc., as the history of our re- 
 ligion sufficiently proves. 
 
 Society in the United States has done well enough although 
 governed with a very little regard to established justice. But 
 what would this country be, if our states never had been default- 
 ers, if their governments had administered the affairs strictly ac- 
 cording to the constitutions, and set an example of prompt justice, 
 honesty, and fidelity to obligations at home and abroad, if all the 
 courts were always the unflinching executors of the laws and the 
 terror of the abettors of crimes ? What startling immorality has 
 been produced by the corruption prevalent in our legislatures ! 
 how many families have lost their all by crises, the effects of wan- 
 ton legislation and mismanagement of our public institutions ! 
 
 My children, never approve or join a party which has treason- 
 able tendencies against our Union. This is the ardent wish of 
 your affectionate father. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS. 105 
 
 LETTER XXX. 
 
 Public Faith. Natural Rights of Citizens. Acts. Records. States are 
 exclusive. Clanish Nationalities. Union Sentiments. Privileges and 
 Immunities Mutual. Missouri Compromise. Fugitives from Justice, 
 their Extradition. Treaties. Mutual Control shared by the Women. 
 Sharpe's Rifles. Slip-shod Sermons. 
 
 WE come now to miscellaneous matters fncident to and conse- 
 quent upon the establishment of the United States government. 
 
 ARTICLE IV. 
 
 Miscellaneous. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 " 1. Full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, rec- 
 ords, and judicial proceedings of every other state. And the Congress may, 
 by general laws, prescribe the manner in which such acts, records, and pro- 
 ceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof." 
 
 In consequence of our Union the several states have been 
 stripped of the predicate foreign. And this is, indeed, the only 
 loss these districts or institutions have suffered by it. It is one 
 of the most conspicuous state-rights to be exclusive, foreign. With- 
 out our Union, Rhode Island would be a foreign country to Mas- 
 sachusetts, and Connecticut to New York. Our states have lost 
 nothing else by it, rather gained every blessing desirable from state 
 organizations.. The laws and acts of foreign nations are not ju- 
 dicially taken notice of by other nations, but must be proved, 
 like other facts, when they come under examination. Thus, with- 
 out our Union, a marriage contract entered into in Massachusetts 
 would not be conclusive in Georgia, and so vice versa. Our Union 
 has equalized and domesticated our public affairs, they have thus 
 acquired the character of common family affairs. Our Union has 
 done away with those dynastic, clanish, European nationalities; and 
 if, from custom, we speak and write in the European fashion, of a 
 north or south, of a South Carolinian or a New-England man, 
 it proves that neither ocean, nor distance, nor nativity, nor time, 
 nor laws are able to destroy easily old habits. No business what- 
 
 5* 
 
106 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 ever, not even bound labor, should have the least biasing influ- 
 ence upon our Union sentiments. 
 
 This clause is calculated to endear the Union and strengthen 
 our Union feelings. We shall presently meet more of the same 
 noble, generous, and just nature. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 " 1. The citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immu- 
 nities of citizens in the several states." 
 
 The federal constitution aims at nothing but rational liberty. 
 There is no liberty without order established by certain rules and 
 mutuality. Liberty without order is anarchy, as order and rule 
 without liberty is despotism. Where justice prevails, there is 
 equality of rights before the law. 
 
 The clause before you expressly sanctions a just, mutual, equal 
 relation among the citizens. It makes the whole vast realm of the 
 United States one home for their citizens ; it excludes all sectional 
 preferences, distinctions, and divisions ; it condemns the Mason 
 and Dixon lines, Missouri compromises, etc. As we all have the 
 same citizen rights, so we have the same obligations. We have 
 men in our society with monarchical and tyrannical dispositions, 
 just as there are republicans in monarchies. This inborn tyran- 
 nical disposition to enforce our rules and views upon others, who 
 differ from them and prefer to live after their own, is curbed by 
 this clause. It makes it impossible that the United States can be 
 converted into a " societas leonina." 
 
 " 2. A person charged in any state with treason, felony, or other crime, 
 who shall flee from justice and be found in another state, shall, on demand 
 of the executive authority of the state from which he fled, be delivered up, 
 to be removed to the state having jurisdiction of the crime." 
 
 A state being organized for the main purpose of realizing 
 justice, it obviously is one of its first duties to protect society 
 against law-breaking men. To make a state a hiding-place for 
 criminals is a monstrous idea, and diametrically opposed to its 
 nature and purpose. Still the before-mentioned state privilege to 
 be foreign, to have nothing common with other states, necessarily 
 makes them a kind of asylum for criminals. This abominable 
 abuse of the state institution at home has been, at once, destroyed 
 by our Union. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS. 107 
 
 Among foreign states treaties are necessary for this purpose. 
 In regard to foreign states the difficulty consists in their peculiar 
 policy. If they are ruled justly and do not stamp acts as crimes 
 which are not such, and which in other states are, perhaps, laud- 
 able deeds, there nobody will fly from justice, except real felons 
 or criminals, of whom alone this clause is treating. 
 
 You see, my dear children, what our Union is, and ought to be. 
 Political affairs partake of the twofold nature of all things, that 
 is, they may be managed wisely or foolishly. A strong, irresisti- 
 ble sense of justice, a manly, unwavering execution of the laws 
 as they are, and a watchful eye over our own conduct and that of 
 others, in regard to constitutions and laws, will keep things right. 
 This mutual political control is one of the strongest pillars of repub- 
 lican forms of governments. The eyes of the officials can not be 
 everywhere, but the eyes of the citizen can. Women, also, wield 
 a large share of this control. Be careful, then, whom you admit 
 to your fireside ; frown upon the enemies and revilers of our 
 Union ; do not listen to the rebellious demagogue ; do not applaud 
 the tirades of a bold partisan by trade ; do not give money for 
 Sharpe's rifles, to be used instead of ballot-boxes ; listen not to 
 partisan, slip-shod sermons ; never countenance treason, and rebel- 
 lion, and crime, under whatever form and pretext. This will 
 help a good deal to keep peace, and settle all differences in a just, 
 honest, constitutional manner. 
 
108 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 LETTER XXXI. 
 
 Man Driven to Lying. Imperfect Laws. Force opposed to Law. Fugi- 
 tives from Service and Labor, their Extradition. Apprentices. Sailors. 
 
 Bound Laborers. Claim upon them for Outlay, to be respected and 
 protected by all Civil Governments. Property-right to Labor-forces. 
 Its Market Price. Property-right of Parents to the Use of the Labor- 
 forces of their Children. Bound Labor is Personal, Serfdom is Glebose. 
 Abolition Agitation is Glebose. Englishmen and Russians are Glebose. 
 Territorial Feudal Rights. Free Labor-force, increased by Immigration. 
 
 Gradually extending South. Seigneurs. Manor-born Subjects. 
 Labor in Spain and Portugal and the Southern States. Jamaica. Few 
 real Free Men. Immense Number of Laws. Europeans are Subjects 
 or Matter. Captain Ingraham. Austrian Emperor. English King in 
 the War of 1812. English Abolitionism explained. American Society 
 Africanized by Abolition of Slavery. Duke of Sutherland. Property 
 in Man. Men of Property. Loafers. Hereditary Governments. 
 France. Subordinate Races. Difference between Monarchies and Re- 
 publics. Industry of the Southern People. Savage Men, their Training 
 by Industry. Manumission of Bound Laborers. Serfs sold with Prop- 
 erty, and belong to it. Judge Loring. Travelling with Bound Servants. 
 
 Africa no Place for Culturing their Savage Inhabitants. Not improved 
 by the Greeks and Romans. Frenchmen. Bound Labor is under Mu- 
 nicipal Government. A Bound Laborer is no Citizen. Territories. 
 Missouri Line. District of. Columbia. Fanaticism in Law-making. 
 Party Press. Boston Journal in favor of Constitutional Monarchy. 
 Canadian Paper prognosticating the end of the Union. Nobility after 
 Abolition of Bound Labor. King Bomba, Emperors of France, and 
 Austria, and Hayti. Boston Notions. American Women. 
 
 WE come now to a clause which has caused serious misunder- 
 standings, but without the least sufficient reason. Man is not 
 only much given to lying, as Shakespeare has it, but also to doing 
 wrong, without being naturally inclined to bear the consequences 
 of either. There will always be laws which are not, in some 
 respects, what they ought to be. Little is perfect in our world. 
 Still in a society where man has all practicable means and reme- 
 dies at his disposition, to express his opinions about laws, and to 
 have them altered or repealed, and where every one who has the 
 right of voting, virtually has a share in law-making in such a 
 
FUGITIVE-SLAVE LAW. 109 
 
 society, I am going to say, the use of force against existing laws 
 and their executors, is one of the most censurable and contempti- 
 ble acts or crimes imaginable. Such an act characterizes the 
 most dangerous enemy of social order. This use of force has 
 happened oft times in regard to the congressional law, making the 
 following clause operative : 
 
 "3. No person held to service or labor in one state, under the laws there- 
 of, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation 
 therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up, 
 on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due." 
 
 This clause is the origin of that law which is generally known 
 by the name of fugitive-slave la\r. It is applicable to all persons 
 engaged to service as apprentices, etc., and must find a place in 
 a constitution of a real confederation, whether there be a single 
 bound laborer within its limits or not. If a sailor engaged to 
 service in the state of New York escapes into another state, he 
 may be claimed there, and ought to be delivered up. Such cases 
 would happen daily if it would be profitable to prosecute them. 
 However in regard to bound laborers such claims are of import- 
 ance, because the party to whom labor is due has bestowed con- 
 siderable expenses upon such laborers, by raising them, or remu- 
 nerating others for those expenses. This constitutes a great civil 
 or judicial difference between bound and free labor, so often lost 
 sight of by sentimentalists and fanatics. The raising of a man, 
 his support in healthy and sick days, the care bestowed upon him 
 to make him a useful being, entitles to a return or remuneration, 
 which should, as a property-right, be acknowledged by all legisla- 
 tures in Canada and elsewhere, who aim at the realization of 
 justice. It is a rightful claim to the person raised, upon which 
 land has not the least influence. This return is given by the use 
 of the labor-force of the servant or laborer, which to control and 
 maintain is connected with great difficulties and risk, unknown in 
 the employment of free labor. The right to this USE has, of 
 course, a market value. It is but witty, or rather malicious, to 
 compare a bound laborer with cattle, because not his weight, 
 that is, muscles or bones, are in question, but merely the use of 
 his labor-force, or the right to it, which also determines the price 
 of free labor. When now the laws of all civilized nations ex- 
 pressly acknowledge a property-right of a parent to the use of 
 
110 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 the labor-forces of his children, what is there, I ask, abnormous 
 in the claim of a man, who, with or without the sanction of state 
 laws, has raised and trained a laborer from childhood at consid- 
 erable expense and trouble, to his labor-force, being besides obliged 
 to support him in all emergencies through life ! Nothing can be 
 plainer than that this claim is property, which ought to be pro- 
 tected by all governments. 
 
 With our bound labor system, land or soil, as mentioned, has 
 nothing to do, as little as land has to do with shoemaking and 
 spinning. It is a PERSONAL condition, something like that of a 
 child relative to its parents. The condition of the Russian serfs 
 and European subjects in general, depends, however, upon terri- 
 torial rights. Free soil politics is an imported European article 
 (as the whole Abolition agitation). If the Englishmen and Rus- 
 sians, etc., wish to become independent and self-governing men, 
 they must first remove these territorial feudal rights ; that is, 
 they must cry for " free soil." This, of course, will bring down 
 the royal and imperial landed crown-rights. 
 
 Up to this time Englishmen and Russians are property, and 
 judged, and taxed, and sold as such with the land to which they 
 belong. Whole provinces are accordingly acquired and disposed 
 of, or conquered, while the soil in South Carolina is just as free 
 as that in Massachusetts, Kansas, and Utah. Our bound laborers 
 are not attached to dominions or soil (glebce adscripti) like the 
 European subjects and serfs. Our society is at present composed 
 of the same elements as at the time when the constitution was 
 made. People in the northern region, abundantly supplied with 
 labor-force by immigration, found the risk of bound labor too 
 great, and therefore sold their interest in it to the South. The 
 same wifl happen under similar circumstances again and every- 
 where. Slavery is transient, liberty permanent. The free-soil 
 talk can in a sensible American, who knows the difference be- 
 tween his country and Europe, only excite ridicule ; for a little 
 thinking must convince him that our bound labor is a mere per- 
 sonal condition or obligation recognized by State laws. 
 
 This is the reason why our bound labor system has, if well 
 managed, not that deteriorating influence upon the culture of the 
 land, as the European territorial subject and serf system. This 
 is the reason why Russia begins in the thickly-settled, best-culti 
 
FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW. Ill 
 
 vated provinces, to abolish serfdom. It is profitless there. A 
 European seigneur must see how he can get along with his manor- 
 born subjects the American master is at liberty to improve or 
 dispose of his bound laborers as he pleases. The labor of our 
 four million slaves is more profitable to society at large than the 
 free labor of ten million people in Spain and Portugal. The 
 world can go along without the latter very well, but can not exist 
 conveniently without our cotton. 
 
 Good governments adjust accurately the laws to the actual 
 exigencies and conditions of society, while bad governments 
 supplant their visions and schemes, and let slide these conditions, 
 and ruin society vide Jamaica. 
 
 There are still very few real free men in our northern states, 
 as is proved by the immense number of laws, lawyers, judges, 
 legislators, etc. for these are not required by real free men, as 
 St. Paul says. There are still fewer such men in Europe, as the 
 general state of subjection and bondage there proves. Almost 
 all Europeans are subject, or matter, possessed by princes ac- 
 cording to the laws of inheritance. Capt. Ingraham rescued a 
 man from the grasp of his imperial owner, who will resign his 
 property-rights as unwillingly as the English king did to the cap- 
 tured naturalized British-Americans in 1812, claiming that they 
 never had ceased to be his property. Rights by inheritance are 
 property-rights nothing else. The British government and the 
 subjects, dukes and counts included, partake thus of the character 
 of matter. 
 
 These peculiar conditions of society in England explain why 
 the English government is at present, in favor of slave abolition, 
 since by this process it changes men into landed feudal crown- 
 property, who priorly were the personal property of masters, and 
 why, the queen, the lords, dukes, and the whole aristocracy, seem 
 to favor this change, because all the privileged classes remain there 
 as before, elevated and distanced from the new low crown-subjects. 
 But let us see how such a change would operate with us. Our 
 society differs in this regard entirely from that in Europe. When, 
 with us, bound labor is abolished in the true sense of this word, all 
 subjection is at an end ; the freed bound servants stand upon the 
 same platform with their prior masters ; they acquire all political 
 rights, and there being, in a great many districts, more slaves than 
 
112 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 masters, the latter would be, with their families, in the minority, 
 and, of course, ruled by the majority, the liberated Africans. Thus, 
 by abolition, society in the slave states would be Africanized. 
 
 What do you think of such a society, my children ? 
 
 Would you like to live in a town, ruled by Africans, or per 
 chance, by Chinese ? Do you believe that the Duke of Suther- 
 land with his lady would ? I for one never could believe it. 
 
 There is much confusion of notions abroad about that what is 
 called property in man. What I write in general on social affairs 
 I take from nature and not from fancy and theories. The federal 
 constitution, too, is organizing society as it naturally is. Society 
 rests upon the idea of property. The child is the property of his 
 parents, the father calls its mother his own, the wife claims her 
 husband as her own. When sons and daughters break loose from 
 the family they seek a new home, longing for the possession of 
 beloved hearts and persons, also animals and vegetables exist by 
 appropriating without ceremony what they need for their subsis- 
 tence. Each must and will possess something. Industry is pro- 
 ducing, man is accumulating by force of the desire to possess. A 
 man of property is something, a loafer nothing. The patriarchal 
 times are praised as the happiest, they were the period of full 
 property in man. Who got disappointed in the possession of a 
 wife or husband was an object of pity or ridicule. Most men pre- 
 fer to be possessed by their governments (hereditary monarchs) 
 to make them more stable and conservative. Look at France. 
 Subordinate races submit without murmur to the dominion of 
 superior races. Travellers report from Liberia that the emigrants 
 fresh from the slave states are useful citizens, while free colored 
 men from the free states are loafers. The possession of man is 
 no slavery or barbarism, but the abuse of this possession. The 
 father who claims his child as his property is no tyrant, but who 
 maltreats it is. It is the same with a bound laborer. If treated 
 right by a superior-raced man, this relation will make happy men. 
 The main difference between monarchies and republics is that 
 society or families cease to be possessed by the latter governments. 
 
 It is impossible that society in our southern states can exist in 
 a state of civilization, that is, enjoyment of civil liberty, or real 
 citizen rights, without keeping the Africans subject. There would 
 be an end of social order and of subsistence by abolition. The 
 
FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW. 113 
 
 industry which supports society there, and contributes so much to 
 the comfort and wealth of the world, would collapse at once ; cot- 
 ton, rice, sugar, tobacco, and other products of the southern 
 climates, would disappear almost entirely from the market. Never 
 have Africans in mass been better treated by any nation than lay 
 the Americans. 
 
 Again, my dear children, men and republics are more the work 
 of circumstances than of philosophical systems, constitutions, and 
 laws. The circumstances here in question are first, savage- 
 ness and slavery in Africa ; secondly, domestication, the first step 
 to tlie culture of Africans in America ; thirdly, their gradual 
 liberation, and, perhaps, reshipment to Liberia, etc. There is 
 more providence in these circumstances for schooling and training 
 savage men than party politicians are willing to admit. Of course, 
 no one will believe that bound labor will exist a single day longer 
 than it is required and profitable, just as free labor is never em- 
 ployed one minute longer than it is profitable and needed. To 
 control all these circumstances is the business of those who are sur- 
 rounded by them, and of nobody else. 
 
 The personal character of our bound labor system has many 
 qualities which make it preferable to the European subject and 
 serf system. First, it allows an easy combination with free labor. 
 There are 250,000 free colored laborers in the southern states, 
 according to the census. Secondly, it facilitates manumission. 
 About 4.000 bound laborers are without interference of states an- 
 nually emancipated in our country. They now .begin to spread 
 civilization in Africa. Thirdly, our bound laborers may be easily 
 transplanted to regions mere apt to their labor, and improved by 
 travelling. The tampering with bound laborers, when travelling 
 with their masters abroad, by busy-bodies, has cut off this source 
 of labor-culture, to the great disadvantage of the bound laborer. A 
 real abolitionist should cheerfully open his house, and city, and state 
 to the masters with their bound laborers, to give the latter a better 
 chance than that at home of comparing their situation with that of 
 free servants and laborers. But it is in vain to expect such just 
 and generous dealing with bound laborers from the side of English 
 " pecora imitationis" in Boston and elsewhere. Nothing would 
 promote more voluntary manumission than a fraternal, upright, 
 gentleman-like intercourse between our fellow-citizens North and 
 
114 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 South, and a stoppage of that clumsy English abolition and free- 
 soil party movement whose greatest triumph consists in robbery, 
 by seducing a bound servant to become faithless to his master. 
 
 Migration of bound laborers from place to place, or state to 
 state, does not increase the number of slaves, of course. Slavery 
 is a product of circumstances, just as liberty. Abstract notions 
 never make a man free. Our world exhibits a social " tableau" 
 of slaves, serfs, subjects, and a very, very few free men, compara- 
 tively. The policy of prohibiting, instead of regulating the impor- 
 tation of slaves or savage Africans to Europe or America, for do- 
 mestication, is from a mundane view, still debatable.* Without 
 transplanting these Africans to America or Europe and domesti- 
 cating them, no culture will ever take hold on them. Neither 
 Greek nor Roman local influence has altered Africa. I have not 
 the least faith in the humanitarian efforts and successes of the 
 French corporals and generals on this terrain. In the United 
 States begins a new African history that of African industry. 
 Asia has been slave before, and remains slave after the introduc- 
 
 * The following passage is from the London Times, of July, 1858. This 
 letter was written 1856 : 
 
 "All this time, on the pretence of preventing the passage of slaves, we are 
 actually preventing that free passage which undoubtedly would arise but for 
 our interference, and which is the very thing wanted both for Africa and the 
 West Indies. The best thing that could happen would be a spontaneous, 
 though encouraged, assisted, and regulated emigration of negroes from Africa 
 to the fields of labor and enterprise on the opposite shore. The African 
 would go across, learn to work, live as well, save money, and return a 
 wealthy and comparatively civilized man, and would become the means of 
 civilizing his countrymen at home. He would bring back to Africa not only 
 the money, but the industry and arts of his employers ; and he would retain 
 at home the new wants he had acquired in his period of service. The bene- 
 fits of the West Indies are too obvious to enlarge upon, and all we have to 
 observe is, that we don't think our countrymen and our possessions in that 
 part of the world utterly undeserving of consideration. 
 
 " What we have described may not be a lofty principle, but it is something 
 better and safer ; it is the right course of nature, and the way in which man- 
 kind has hitherto been civilized. But it is prevented by the effort to which 
 national pride has now committed us. We interpose our wooden walls be- 
 tween the vast reservoir of African labor and the channels of industry and 
 civilization into which it is ready to run. Of course we are prepared to find 
 any number of English politicians ready to maintain this or any other na- 
 tional hypocrisy. Such diseases must run their course, even if the climax 
 should happen to be a severe one." 
 
FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW. 115 
 
 tion of Christianity. Europe has done with African slaves, but 
 not with serfs and subjects, and never will do without them, as 
 long as the present social institutions and conditions remain as 
 they are. It will take a long time before our southern states, 
 Middle Central America, and Brazil can do without bound labor- 
 ers. Philanthropists never will alter this without causing general 
 social confusion and ruin. The unprejudiced begin to open their 
 eyes. In a few generations African bound laborers will be im- 
 ported to Europe. 
 
 Who has eyes to see must perceive that from sheer want of 
 those labor-forces the works of the old Spaniards in Central and 
 South America crumble now to pieces, and Jamaica and Hayti 
 are laid waste. 
 
 With us labor is wealth. Our renowned smartness consists 
 mostly in the excellent use we make of all kinds of labor-forces. 
 The possibility of starting a sjavery party in Massachusetts, where 
 there are no slaves, and of a free-soil party in a country where 
 land is as free as the air, betrays the foreign and spurious origin 
 of these parties further, a great weakness and sickly impulsive- 
 ness in our character, and an unripeness in our judgment, which 
 our national enemies know very well how to use to our immense 
 disadvantage. 
 
 But, when shall bound labor cease ? I answer : In due course 
 of time. This apparently knotty question is easily solved by the 
 causes which made it necessary. Once Time required it in 
 America, Time requires it still in some parts, Time will abolish 
 it, whether in one hundred or one thousand years must not in the 
 least concern lawmakers. There is too much slavery and bond- 
 age abroad for good old Father Time to abolish. Think only of 
 the bondage of superstition, of political party, of mammon, of lib- 
 ertinism, of intemperance, of false sciences, of thousands of vices 
 and ignorances, all to be removed by good old Father Time ! 
 Think only how few know what is the right measure in eating 
 and drinking, not to say a word about talking and writing ! Wh^, 
 therefore, be in a hurry in Boston with the abolition of slavery in 
 Louisiana, while people in New Orleans complacently wait until 
 Time has taught people in Boston and elsewhere the correct mea- 
 sure in eating, loving, writing, talking, preaching, and to respect 
 and obey faithfully constitutions and laws made by and with the 
 
116 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 consent of their own representatives in Congress and state those 
 referring to the duties of the judiciary too ! The treatment of 
 Judge Loring at the hand of the government of Massachusetts is 
 a greater stain on our national honor than African bound labor ; for 
 this is not of our own making, as is our federal constitution and its 
 judiciary, but of British inheritance, as every person a little versed 
 in history knows. 
 
 Keep, then, my children, in all questions concerning laborers, 
 strictly in view, that our national government has not the least 
 power to legislate on this labor any more than on free labor. A 
 bound laborer, in a state or territory, is, as such, subject to the 
 municipal laws of the state or territory. A bound laborer is no 
 national man, no national property, no subject, no citizen, but a 
 domesticated man, belonging to his master, like a child to his 
 parents, or a wife to her husband and vice versa. The presi- 
 dential party-dispute of 1856, would and could not exist, if all 
 those belonging to the free-soil or abolition party would but read 
 the constitution correctly and understood it well. If a bound 
 laborer is not a national political subject, Congress, as the national 
 government, has no concern with it, neither in states nor territo- 
 ries. It has the power to organize or regulate a territory, but 
 not to legislate on the domestic affairs and laborers, ot waiters, or 
 chambermaids, or mechanics, or churches, or other municipal sub- 
 jects. It is one of my principal objects in these letters to show 
 that the federal constitution has not the least concern in the main- 
 tenance or abolition of bound labor ; that Congress has not and 
 never had the least power to legislate on it or to make Missouri 
 lines or compromises ; that neither the president, nor the United 
 States court, has the least official influence in the matter ; that 
 petitions to Congress for the abolition of slavery, except from 
 masters in the District of Columbia, are entirely out of place ; 
 that a Congressional election issue or platform on the ground of 
 slavery or free soil is a spurious mockery of politicians by trade 
 deserving a stern rebuke by the people. 
 
 I frankly consider the prohibition of bound labor in the north- 
 ern state constitutions as injudicious, uncivil, and entirely super- 
 fluous in our Union, and indeed, against the best interests of the 
 bound laborers, as I have noticed before. Fanaticism in law- 
 making is a terrible curse to society. It has become fashionable, 
 
FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW. 117 
 
 of late, in Congress and state. Unprincipled daily papers have 
 much to answer for it. Our public men, even of some note, betray 
 a deplorable wilfulness in these things. 
 
 Although I never feel alarmed by the utterances of strict party 
 papers, whatever may be their tenor in regard to our political sys- 
 tem, still it is prudent to notice them as signs of the times. 
 
 Please, my dear children, compare the following extract from 
 the Boston Journal, a leading abolition or free-soil paper, with 
 what I have just said of the peculiar character of this party. It 
 reads thus : 
 
 " We are decidedly of opinion that monarchy hereditary 
 monarchy is by far the best form of government that human 
 wisdom has yet devised for the administration of considerable na- 
 tions, and that it will always continue to be the most perfect which 
 human virtue will admit of." 
 
 A Canadian paper of the same stamp says : " The United 
 States has about run its race as a republic. Its democracy is 
 ripening into anarchy, the fruits of which will inevitably be des- 
 potism of some sort or other." 
 
 To carry out an abolition scheme, a monarchy for the southern 
 states is inevitable. If the negroes shall be free citizens their 
 masters must become heavily-privileged barons, counts, dukes, 
 lords, and the like. In this, the opinion of the Boston journal 
 is decidedly right. And to come to that, we want first anarchy, 
 mentioned in the Canadian paper, rebellion against the existing 
 laws, removing of the landmarks. To this abolitionism and free- 
 soilism lead. You see how these kinds of "republicans" are 
 making common cause with the dukes, queens, kings, and em- 
 perors in Europe. No better monarchists exist in Prussia, Aus- 
 tria, and England, than those " republicans." 
 
 What kind of a monarchy the Boston journal will establish for 
 our administration, whether after the famous models of King 
 Bomba, or Emperor Francis Joseph, after the fashion of the 
 Spanish or English queen, or after the whims of their majesties 
 Soulouque, or Napoleon III., is irrevalent, since we have already 
 in our political system all that is good in a monarchical govern- 
 ment viz: one head as executive, and all that is good in a re- 
 publican government, viz : the representative form blended with 
 the democratic, surrounded by the necessary checks. Still all 
 
118 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 forms of governments are, of course, useless, if the laws are not 
 executed with a good will. The first thing in most monarchical 
 countries, that would happen with the Boston journal, if speaking 
 there in favor of the republic, as it speaks in our republic in favor 
 of the monarchy, is suppression, closely followed up by perse- 
 cution of the editors, printers, publishers, and all in the concern. 
 
 But let us turn away from such Boston notions. You have al- 
 ready experience enough in housekeeping to know that good 
 masters make good servants. The exemplary good order, prev- 
 alent in the regions where our four millions of African slaves are 
 held, obviously proves that they are well managed. The men, fel- 
 low-citizens of ours, who are doing this work, which is not an 
 easy one, deserve our thanks and that of mankind. And all we, as 
 their countrymen, under the shelter of the same constitution, have 
 to do is, to let them alone, and not interfere with their own affairs, 
 nor deprive them of their share of the common' privileges of 
 every citizen in the Union. This is but fair and just. The 
 sensible and generous American women have an immense influ- 
 ence upon these things, for they are the managers of the domes- 
 tic affairs everywhere. 
 
 LETTER XXXII. 
 
 Annexation of Texas. Portentous in regard to the Union. New States. 
 Their Admission into the Union. Territory. Land Surveying. Indian 
 Territory. Indian Agents. Indemnification. Selling of Land. Cul- 
 ture of Indians impossible in their own Country. Acquisition of Foreign 
 Country. Florida, Louisiana. Mexico. Division of States. Over- 
 grown Municipal States, as New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania. Mutual 
 Control and Power of Self-government lost therein. France. Monar- 
 chies with blended National and Municipal Business. increase of Free 
 States compared with that of Slave States. 
 
 I SHOULD, perhaps, close my letters with number thirty-one, 
 because I hardly believe that I shall be able to rivet your atten- 
 tion longer upon the constitution, after we have done with the 
 fugitive slave law, which is common ground for writers and readers 
 of both sexes. Still, I hope you will listen a little longer, as we 
 
NEW STATES. 119 
 
 come now to the annexation business, which, at the time, at least, 
 when Texas was admitted into the Union, caused so much univer- 
 sal anxiety such a sea of alarming prophecies about the down- 
 fall of our political fabric, that it is indeed a real miracle how the 
 Union could survive this crisis. And behold, there it stands still, 
 upon a broader and, I say, surer foundation than ever, provided 
 American women will what? turn not European with the 
 abolitionists and free-soilers. Read on, then, a little longer in 
 patience. 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 " 1. New states may be admitted by the Congress into this Union, but no 
 new states shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other 
 state, or any state be formed by the junction of two or more states, or parts 
 of states, without the consent of the legislatures of the states concerned, as 
 well as of the Congress." 
 
 This section is a new political social feature a riovus or do 
 seculorum, 
 
 The rule is that a colony, settled upon an adjacent territory 
 belonging to the United States, when she has reached a popu- 
 lation of sixty thousand inhabitants, which entitles it to two 
 senators, shall be admitted into -the Union. As Congress has 
 alone the power to transact business with foreign governments 
 and the Indians, and as the acquisition of new wild lands or terri- 
 tory is made by the Union and for the same, so to the Congress 
 necessarily belongs the whole disposition and regulation of the 
 territorial affairs, from a national view. Therefore Congress has 
 originated a land surveying and selling system, embracing the 
 acquisition of the lands from the Indians, or adjacent governments, 
 their indemnification, superintending, establishing of land-offices, 
 Indian agents, bestowing titles to settlers, appointing governors, 
 judges, and the necessary civil officers. 
 
 Congress has also tried to promote the culture of the Indians. 
 Still, the official reports prove that little good has been promoted. 
 The annuities paid to them in money and certain goods have pro- 
 duced but vice and laziness. Tribe after tribe dies off. The 
 whole number of the Indians in the United States territories is 
 little over three hundred thousand, at present. The twelve nations 
 alone once numbered as much. This lesson proves what happens 
 if governments meddle with the industry and culture (education 
 
120 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 and instruction) of society. If a similar plan should be adopted 
 with the Africans their fate would be like that of the red-skins 
 destruction. The Indians can be as little cultivated at home as 
 the Africans. They should have been for this purpose trans- 
 ported to Europe, just as the Africans had on this account to be 
 brought to America. Without domestication abroad no savage 
 ever will improve. 
 
 The constitution contains no prohibition of the acquisition of 
 foreign territory, as happened with Florida, Louisiana, New 
 Mexico ; and this makes the utmost caution of Congress impera- 
 tive not to transgress in this regard its powers. It should, as far 
 as possible, always be done with the consent of the population in 
 question ; for we annex not the land, but men. Men, not acres, 
 form the Union ; men, not rocks, establish states ; and these are 
 made for men, and not for mountains and vales. It is but right 
 that no state should be arbitrarily divided, since a state is a social 
 institution, based upon a convention or compact, embodied in a 
 written constitution and represented by a government. This, 
 then, must be the organ by means of which a dismemberment of 
 such an institution must be made. Any other procedure would 
 be improper, arbitrary, and revolutionary. 
 
 The necessity of dividing states, with a fast-increasing popula- 
 tion, will soon be felt, not only because municipal states containing 
 more than about one million inhabitants are generally badly 
 governed it being then almost impossible to exercise the politi- 
 cal mutual control of which I wrote in a prior letter but also 
 because such states acquire, in consequence of party organiza- 
 tions, too powerful an influence upon the national affairs. I refer 
 in this regard to the list of electoral votes elsewhere. The state 
 of New York commands in Congress as many votes as eight 
 smaller states taken together. 
 
 This produces an undue preponderance in the national councils. 
 Moreover, in the population of a state of about three millions of 
 inhabitants the sentiment or feelings of nationality begin to be- 
 come conscious and substance. This consciousness steeled the 
 arms of the American colonists in their struggle for freedom and 
 self-government. It will cause trouble in our Union. Factionists 
 and intriguers will use it for selfish purposes. 
 
 There is a certain measure based upon the natural laws of 
 
NEW STATES. 121 
 
 society for municipal and national state districts and organizations. 
 This is a most important subject for the consideration of states- 
 men, debating societies, and patriotic citizens in general. The 
 population in the states of New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania 
 has reached that number which renders a good republican muni- 
 cipal government more and more impracticable. History proves 
 that the power of self-government is lost in states of too great 
 a population. France, with thirty-five millions of inhabitants 
 never will be a republic for a longer time than it requires to pull 
 down the throne in Paris. She should be first divided into at 
 least thirty-five state districts, for the municipal political business, 
 with a central federal government like ours, for the national busi- 
 ness, to become a stable republic. In a monarchy the municipal 
 and national business is blended and centralized. It would be con- 
 stantly thrown into confusion if not supported by a powerful 
 soldiery, rich hereditary aristocracy, a hereditary dynasty, a 
 wealthy state church, aud more such props, against which, if well 
 combined, a discontented or oppressed people can not do much. 
 But as soon as these artificial props give way, and especially the 
 army turns traitor, the crown rolls into the street, where it is a 
 plaything of the mobs. If you understand the federal constitution 
 well you will better understand the history of bygone states, em- 
 pires, and republics, especially those of France. From this his- 
 tory the noble framers of the constitution learned more than 
 the Napoleons, Bourbons, and those who made constitutions after 
 them. 
 
 This clause, I say, is without precedent, and the mother of 
 nineteen new states, peopled by those whom it pleased to seek a 
 shelter in this Union. What a beautiful social phenomenon ; 
 what a picture of human progress ; what a triumph achieved by 
 that simple honest common sense which has founded our Union ! 
 
 Still, this exceedingly wise proviso, if not wisely executed with 
 regard to the population, which naturally accumulates in favored 
 localities, will, I repeat it, in the course of time produce trouble. 
 Each proviso of a constitution is subject to abuse, as all other 
 things in this world. 
 
 Remark here that when the federal constitution was framed 
 every state tolerated slavery. Since that time two, only two states 
 have been added sanctioning slavery, so that there are at present 
 
 6 
 
122 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 fifteen slave states, all counted, while there have sprung up seven- 
 teen free states at the time (1858) of writing this letter. This 
 shows what course we take under our constitution. Our march 
 is toward freedom on the path of justice and order. 
 
 LETTER XXXIII. 
 
 Territories. Their Disposal and Regulation. Three Periods. Indian 
 Policy. Territorial Policy. State Policy. Kansas Nebraska Act. 
 Missouri Compromise not Constitutional. Dred Scott Case. 
 
 THE following clause refers to the land belonging to the United 
 States : 
 
 " 2. The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful 
 rules and regulations respecting the territory, and other property belonging 
 to the United States, and nothing in this constitution shall be so construed 
 as to prejudice any claims of the United States, or of any particular state." 
 
 Some say that this proviso should be restricted to the territory 
 of the United States at the time of the establishing of the consti- 
 tution, but I see not for what practical use, since the nature of the 
 case requires a discretional power. Increase of territory was 
 foreseen by the framers of the constitution. 
 
 In regard to government, society in the United States goes 
 through three periods. The first is entire dependency of thinly? 
 settled regions upon Congress, without any state-like organization 
 of their own ; it is called the period of the Indian policy. The 
 second is the period of territorial organization, lasting until the 
 population is large enough to be entitled to state representation in 
 Congress. During this period the people make their own laws, but 
 the executive and judiciary are appointed and paid by Congress. 
 The third period begins when a territory is admitted into the 
 Union, on the ground of a republican constitution, as an independ- 
 ent state. This once done, the state is an indissoluble part of the 
 Union, except Congress should see fit to exclude it on constitu- 
 tional grounds, as by adopting a monarchical constitution. If 
 people, as the Mormon sect, should abuse their territorial rights, 
 Congress may deprive them of such, and place them back under 
 a government entirely depending upon Congress. 
 
TERRITORIES. 123 
 
 This clause has gained of late undeservedly much interest in 
 consequence of the change produced by the act of Congress con- 
 cerning the organization of the territories of Kansas and Ne- 
 braska. Up to the 34th Congress, by a law of Congress of 1820, 
 it was declared that in all the territory north of lat. 36 30 X not 
 included within the limits of Missouri, slavery and involuntary 
 servitude should for ever be prohibited. By this act Congress 
 was involved in the slavery question, which, however, as a mere 
 municipal business does not belong to its business sphere. To 
 terminate the eternal, angry debates about this subject in Con- 
 gress, it saw fit to abrogate in the bill just mentioned this geo- 
 graphical or sectional line, on the ground that the question of 
 slavery should be left to the people to decide when they had 
 formed a state and accepted a constitution. You, my dear chil- 
 dren, will now be able to form for yourselves a pretty correct 
 opinion upon this subject. We leave the constitutionality of the 
 prior acts to the supreme court to decide upon, since there is not 
 the least doubt that Congress, by virtue of the clause under con- 
 sideration, has the right to repeal or alter such acts at pleasure. 
 But so much is certain, that a Union divided by a political geo- 
 graphical line in regard to bound or free labor, commerce, religion 
 or anything else, ceases to be a union or unit/Hbut appears as a 
 divided thing. This much-talked-of Kansas and Nebraska act 
 will work rightly under the constitution, provided only real actual 
 settlers have to manage the public business. These will, you may 
 be sure, adjust their state constitution to the actual circumstances, 
 and this is all they should do. But if there are men allowed to 
 vote which are, by the abolition party or others, expressly hired for 
 this purpose, the result will be different. That such mercenary 
 votes are a fraud and illegal is obvious. 
 
 It is to be devoutly hoped that we shall not hear a single word 
 more about bound labor in Congress. If the principle pointed 
 out above of free settling of the territories by Americans, Euro- 
 peans and Asiatics be right, it is self-evident that no American 
 citizen can be excluded from any section of our territories, may he 
 keep bound laborers or not. At least, the federal constitution, our 
 supreme law of the land, does not contain a single word against 
 this principle, as may be presumed considering its origin. 
 
 Allow me to ask here ; would not the often -mentioned family- 
 
124 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 state vote at once prevent party outrages in such instances ? would 
 families be liable to be abused for fraudulent voting errands? have 
 you ever heard of families going fillibustering ? This proves 
 what a great difference there is between the family and the usual 
 personal suffrage, how the first naturally guaranties order, and the 
 second produces all kinds of mischief and social corruption. 
 Usurpers, like the Napoleons, understand this difference very well, 
 and side with our demagogues. Congress has the power to make 
 the laws on the suffrage in the territories. Why not use it ? 
 
 Who has seen the managing of the voting in territories and 
 new states will agree that it is impossible, in most instances, to 
 distinguish bona fide settlers from fraudulent voters. The real 
 bonajide settlers are families, because they are forced by nature 
 to found a home. That legislature which first substitutes the 
 family suffrage for the personal or general suffrage, relieves society 
 of an evil which every patriot and good citizen deeply deplores. 
 Its name is mob-rule. 
 
 As the parents are advising and helping their children when 
 they are going the first time to housekeeping, so Congress sup- 
 ports the young settlements until the appointed time has come for 
 the independent management of their own state affairs. This 
 kind of transient regulation of territories must be in its nature 
 discretionary, and should be borne with cheerfulness, and not re- 
 sented by fierce demagoguism and treasonable revolt, as has been 
 done in Kansas of late ; for Congress acts for the best of society, 
 and does, indeed, nothing but bears the first expenses of the local 
 government, which the settlers have in their hands, by making 
 their own civil and criminal laws. 
 
 I have perhaps dwelt too long upon these subjects, but you see 
 what dangers are surrounding us, and will therefore not be tired 
 if I repeatedly recur to important principles to better show their 
 working in society. 
 
 Postscript. After this letter was written, there appeared 
 in the papers a notice of a judgment of the United States su- 
 preme court in the case of Dred Scott against his master, claim- 
 ing his freedom on the ground that he had resided two years, 
 by the act of his owner, in a state where slavery was pro- - 
 hibited by its constitution, and afterward in a territory from 
 which it was prohibited by the Missouri compromise. The supreme 
 
TERRITORIES. 125 
 
 court denies the validity of his claim, and decides the following 
 points : 
 
 First. Negroes, whether slave or free, that is men of the Afri- 
 can race, are not citizens of the United States, by the constitution. 
 
 Second. The ordinance of 1787 had no independent constitu- 
 tional force or legal effect subsequently to the adoption of the 
 constitution ; and could not operate of itself to confer freedom or 
 citizenship within the northwest territory on negroes, not citizens 
 by the constitution. 
 
 Third. The provision of the act of 1820, commonly called the 
 Missouri compromise, in so far as it undertook to exclude negro 
 slavery from, and communicate freedom and citizenship to, negroes 
 in the northern part of the Louisiana cession, was a legislative act 
 exceeding the powers of Congress, and VOID, and of no legal 
 effect to that end. 
 
 In deciding these main points the supreme court determined 
 the following incidental points : 
 
 First. The expression " territory and other property " of the 
 Union in the constitution applies " in terms " only to such terri- 
 tory as the Union possessed at the time of the adoption of the 
 constitution. 
 
 Second. The rights of citizens of the United States emigrating 
 into any federal territory, and the power of the federal govern- 
 ment there, depend on the general provisions of the constitution, 
 which defines in this, as in all other respects, the powers of Con- 
 gress. 
 
 Third. As Congress does not possess power itself to make 
 enactments relative to the persons or property of citizens of the 
 United States in a federal territory, other than such as the consti- 
 tution confers, so it cannot constitutionally delegate any such 
 powers to a territorial government organized by it under the con- 
 stitution. 
 
 Fourth. The legal condition of a slave in the state of Missouri 
 is not affected by the temporary sojourn of such slave in any 
 other state, but on his return his condition still depends on the 
 laws of Missouri. 
 
 As the plaintiff was not a citizen he, therefore, could not sue in 
 the courts of the United States. The suit must be dismissed for 
 want of jurisdiction. 
 
126 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 This decision settles an unsteady practice which has influenced 
 party rancor and virulence. A slave is not born as a citizen, and 
 does not acquire by simple manumission citizen rights, any more 
 than an immigrant acquires such a right by mere immigration. 
 The judgment is plain and just, and in regard to the increasing 
 Mongolian immigration very seasonable. 
 
 LETTER XXXIV. 
 
 Guaranty of a Republican Form of Government. Protection against In- 
 vasion and Domestic Violence. Switzerland. Hanse Republics. 
 Monarchs. Greeks. King Philip. Amphyctionic Congress. Euro- 
 pean ' Opinion of the American Political System. Rev. T. S. Hughes's 
 Opinion. Dangers of our Republic to the whole World. 
 
 WE shall soon be through the constitution. It disposes in 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 " The United States shall guaranty to every state in this Union a republi- 
 can form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion ; 
 and on application of the legislature, or of the executive (when the legis- 
 lature can not be convened), against domestic violence." 
 
 Harmony in a confederation requires that the forms of the gov- 
 ernment be of the same kind. Republics and monarchies never 
 will form a real confederation. We see how the monarchs are 
 treating Switzerland or the little Hanse republics in Germany. 
 The Greeks, by admitting King Philip to their republican Am- 
 phyctionic Congress, sapped the foundation of their confederacy, 
 ending in their subjection to the Macedonians. 
 
 Congress is by this clause pledged to guaranty free govern- 
 ments, the most simple, the most natural, and the best, if not per- 
 mitted to be abused by lawless and unpatriotic men. The clause 
 is plain by itself. Of the common defense, in case of invasion, we 
 have read before. In case of domestic violence against the gov- 
 ernments Congress shall also provide protection. As long as the 
 trouble is merely local, and, of course, not endangering the state 
 government, Congress has no right to interfere ; for, in a well- 
 governed state, where the executive has a sharp look upon the 
 
EUROPEAN OPINIONS. 127 
 
 execution of the laws, there will always be force enough to assist 
 the authorities in carrying out the laws in such instances. 
 
 European statesmen and writers hold the opinion, that in this 
 constitution too little power is given to the federal government 
 over the state legislatures, which they generally call provincial 
 legislatures. But all who study the federal constitution with an 
 eye and keen instinct for business will discover, that in the very 
 little or no power at all Congress has over the state governments 
 is the very strength of our system. The states, being all repub- 
 lics, have only to care for the good management of the municipal 
 public business. This is or should be their ambition. Congress, on 
 the other hand, is appointed to manage the national business well. 
 Therein may its members exhaust all their ingenuity and ambi- 
 tion. If both institutions act their parts well, and the people are 
 well able to control them practically, the American system of or- 
 ganizing society and managing their public affairs, must neces- 
 sarily be the best men can devise. When one of those writers 
 (Rev. T. S. Hughes, in his English History) says, that our re- 
 public is destined, for a time at least, to be the great disturbing 
 force of Europe, if not of the world, and so potent for mischief, 
 that it becomes a question whether it would not be sound policy 
 for all European states to combine for the purpose of curbing its 
 encroachments, and counteracting its designs, he little understood 
 the merits of this system, and the pivot upon which it moves. All 
 that Europe has to do is to let America alone. There is not the 
 least danger that this republic will disturb Europe, unless forced 
 to resent injurious meddling with their interest. Our internal 
 troubles (there will be always some) will be trifling, if we do not 
 neglect the voting laws and the distributing of society. 
 
128 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 LETTER XXXV. 
 
 Amending the Constitution. Check upon large States. Public Debts. 
 Supreme Law of the Land. Higher Law Reveries. Religious and 
 Moral Precepts. Channing. Philosophical Opinions and Truths, no 
 Law. Sharpe's Rifles. 
 
 THOSE who made this constitution were honest enough to ad- 
 mit it might not be so perfect as they wished to make it, and there- 
 fore provided how it might be improved. 
 
 ARTICLE V. 
 
 Of Amendments. 
 
 " 1. The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it ne- 
 cessary, shall propose amendments to this constitution, or, on the application 
 of the legislatures of two thirds of the several states, shall call a convention 
 for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents 
 and purposes as part of this constitution when ratified by the legislatures of 
 three fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three fourths thereof, 
 as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress ; 
 provided that no amendment, which may be made prior to the year one thous- 
 and eight hundred and eight, shall in any manner affect the first and fourth 
 clauses in the ninth section of the first article ; and that no state, without its 
 consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the senate/' 
 
 The limitations indicated in this article refer to the prohibition 
 of the introduction of slaves, and in the mode of levying a cap- 
 itation or direct tax, not to be changed so long as slave property 
 could be increased by importation, and to the representation of the 
 states in the senate. The first and second restrictions are com- 
 promises, and the third a check upon the influence of large states, 
 of which I have spoken before, but which requires a special law 
 of Congress, also in regard to their influence in the house of repre- 
 sentatives. 
 
 ARTICLE VI. 
 
 Miscellaneous. 
 
 "1. All debts contracted, and engagements entered into, before the adop- 
 tion of this constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this 
 constitution, as under the confederation." 
 
UNITED STATES LAWS SUPREME. 129 
 
 It is but just, since changes of the form of government do not 
 rescind, change, or destroy the obligations between governments 
 and citizens. This is often forgotten in revolutionary times, which 
 invariably increase prior public debts. 
 
 "2. This constitution, and the laws of the United States, which shall be 
 made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, 
 under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the 
 land ; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the 
 constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding." 
 
 This plainly settles all higher law reveries. I respect deeply 
 all religious or moral precepts. They ought to be the fountain 
 from which our legislators should draw their wisdom : they should 
 be the rules of our life. But what is considered by Channing, in 
 his writings on slavery, the duty of free states, spiritual freedom, 
 etc., and by his followers, higher law, is no political authority, no 
 law. to be executed, but merely a sentiment, an opinion, an ideal. 
 Who is not satisfied with our supreme law, as it stands, and with 
 the laws made under it, must, in this free country, not rebel against 
 them, but quietly suffer them or expiate himself, as hundreds and 
 thousands do in Europe, who do not like the established laws 
 there. All other expedients are unworthy of a republican citizen 
 and an honest man, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in 
 the theological, philosophical, metaphysical, and poetical systems 
 and doctrines. These are all very well in their way, but, if there 
 shall not be confusion without end, LAW must be their guiding 
 star as it is that of a good people. I love our federal constitution 
 and our system of governing, because, under it, people may 
 enjoy the greatest spiritual freedom, expand freely their noblest 
 faculties, so far as circumstances permit. Let then the philoso- 
 phers develop the truth, but not enforce their opinions with Sharpe's 
 rifles. Every good thing has its proper time for use. 
 
 6* 
 
130 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 LETTER XXXVI. 
 
 Official Oath. Religious Test abolished. Party. Unconstitutional Plat- 
 forms. Sliding Constitutions or Platforms. Perjury. Chaplains. 
 Object of Religion. Separation of Religion from the State. E Pluribus 
 Unum. Norvus Ordo Seculorum. Religious Intolerance. Ratification 
 by a Majority of the States. No Preference of, or Difference between, 
 the Old and New States. 
 
 WITH this letter we have done with the constitution proper. 
 
 "3. The senators and representatives before mentioned, and the members 
 of the several state legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both 
 of the United States and the several states, shall be bound by oath or affirma- 
 tion, to support this constitution ; but no religious test shall ever be required 
 as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States." 
 
 Public officers, in order to give a guaranty of their honest in- 
 tention, are placed everywhere under such a solemn obligation, 
 although it is by some thought superfluous, under a written con- 
 stitution, about which there can not be a mental reserve. We have 
 seen that it is almost impossible to get a seat in Congress or an 
 office, without the intervention of party. It may happen in a 
 free country that a party acts upon a platform, which contains 
 sectional, anti-union, or unconstitutional conditions. An unscru- 
 pulous man may slide such a platform, and by dint of smartness 
 and hypocrisy, carry the election, so that he can pass the Rubicon 
 of this official oath without a great deal of violence to his con- 
 science ; but if he accepts such a platform, swears the oath, as 
 prescribed in this clause, and acts and votes according to the plat- 
 form and lets slide the constitution, he obviously commits perjury. 
 The chaplains of the legislature and Congress should often ex- 
 pose this danger of violating the supreme law on party grounds. 
 They should do it as the monitors of the moral and religious pre- 
 cepts, alias called higher law. I hope to see the crime of perjury 
 in regard to this clause, if not punished, always promptly resented 
 by the people. Against this oath is the doctrine of instruction ; 
 under it Congress is not free, and perjury almost unavoidable. 
 
RELIGIOUS TEST. 131 
 
 The abolishing of the narrow-minded religious test is consonant 
 with the pure and elevated principles of humanity, morality, and 
 justice, upon which the constitution has been reared. We all 
 know that the object of religion is to induce and bind man to a 
 faithful performance of his personal and social duties. In this 
 regard all sects and denominations should agree, however much 
 they may differ in their rites and creeds. For what rational use 
 is then such a test ? It was, therefore, not only a novel, but, as 
 time has proved, also a wise and just step forward on the path of 
 humanity to exclude a religious test entirely from public offices, 
 while it is even at present required by all foreign governments. 
 
 Our constitution has in this manner made religion a private 
 affair, obviously considered as such by its frainers, and separated 
 it from state. For, if the government has no right to require 
 such a test, it has no right to interfere with religious affairs at 
 all. 
 
 Thus ends this most noble document ! It has, as our national 
 escutcheon truly states, successfully united a number of dis- 
 cordant states in one stable-confederation (e pluribus unum), and 
 opened a new period in the history of mankind (novus ordo secu- 
 lorum). It has, upon the rational principles of self-government, 
 established justice and civil liberty ; and is not only a master- 
 specimen of a free political family compact, but also the first or- 
 ganic law, which effectively destroyed the modern Hydra : RELI- 
 GIOUS INTOLLERANCE. 
 
 ARTICLE VII. 
 
 Of the Ratification. 
 
 " The ratification of the conventions of nine states, shall be sufficient for 
 the establishment of this constitution between the states so ratifying the 
 same." 
 
 The ratification should take place in conventions of the people. 
 A majority of the thirteen states was designated by the constitution 
 sufficient for its adoption. Nine of these states ratified instantly, 
 and thus began the confederation, four within a year afterward. 
 There is not a vestige in the constitution favoring a preference of, 
 or a difference between the first thirteen states of the Union and 
 those later admitted to it, although some writers insist upon such 
 a discrimination. They are led astray by the European notions 
 
 
132 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 of territorial sovereignty. And thus live under its panoply in 
 thirty-two states, twenty-six millions of happy men they, at 
 least, can be such, if they make a right use of their reason. May 
 God protect this Union. 
 
 LETTER XXXVII. 
 
 Exceptions and Mob Commotions against the Constitution. Bill of Rights. 
 Amendments. Religious Establishment. Freedom of Speech and of 
 the Press. Assembling. Petition. Great Britain. Municipal Le- 
 gislation. Right to bear Arms. European Legislation. Municipal. 
 District of Columbia. Quartering of Soldiers in Time of Peace. 
 Unreasonable Searches in Houses. Grand-jury Indictment. Double 
 Trials. Process of Law. Private Property for Public Use. Muni- 
 cipal Legislation. Speedy Public Trial by Jury. Witnesses. Coun- 
 sel. Trial by Jury in $20 Cases. Blackstone. Excessive Bail. 
 Enumeration of Certain Rights. Powers reserved to the States. Ex- 
 tension of the Judicial Power. Electors. Presidents compared with 
 Crowned Heads. Executive. Judiciaiy compared with the Legislative 
 Branch. Stability of the Federal Constitution. 
 
 AGAINST this constitution were raised strong exceptions, even 
 mob-commotions, because it contained no bill of rights, &c. But 
 we have seen that all general principles of justice (such as make 
 up what is called a bill of rights) were carefully embodied in this 
 organic law, so far as they were in harmony with its purpose the 
 organization of the Congress and defining of its business. To do 
 more would not have been befitting, or would have been encroach- 
 ing upon state constitutions, statute-books, or judicial codes. But 
 this would not suit some wiseacres, and therefore a string of 
 amendments was proposed, of which the following were approved 
 by the good people. I shall pass them over with a few remarks, 
 because they are irrelevant. 
 
 AMENDMENTS. 
 
 "Art. 1. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of Re- 
 ligion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of 
 speech, or of the press ; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, 
 and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." 
 
 You will see at the first glance, my dear children, that this 
 
AMENDMENTS. 133 
 
 amendment is superfluous with us, while it may be appropriate 
 in Great Britain or elsewhere. By abolishing the religious test 
 the constitution has done more in regard to religious freedom than 
 this amendment would do, if it stood alone. On the other sub- 
 jects, even about the aberrations of the Mormon church, Congress 
 has no right to legislate. To say a word about petitions is gra- 
 tuitous and improper, our officials being our responsible agents 
 and not our lords or royal proprietors, and, therefore, can and 
 never will refuse to accept petitions on subjects belonging to their 
 business-sphere. The main objects mentioned here belong to 
 municipal legislation and not at all to Congress. 
 
 " Art. 2. A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free 
 state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." 
 
 Good for Europe. We have read the dispositions of the con- 
 stitution about the militia. Congress has no power to legislate on 
 the keeping and bearing of arms, except in the District of Co- 
 lumbia. 
 
 "Art. 3. No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house 
 without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be 
 prescribed by law." 
 
 Is also good for Europe. We have no soldiers in the European 
 sense of the word. If our troops should be in need of lodging 
 and board, somebody must pay for it. Of course, necessity in 
 times of war knows no law, no restraint ; but the right to indem- 
 nification after the war, no one can destroy. 
 
 " Art. 4. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, 
 papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be 
 violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported 
 by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, 
 and the persons or things to be seized." 
 
 Very well for England and a statute-book of municipal laws, 
 but superfluous here. 
 
 " Art. 5. No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise in- 
 famous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except 
 in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual 
 service in time of war or public danger ; nor shall any person be subject for 
 the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb ; nor shall be 
 compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be de- 
 prived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law ; nor shall 
 private property be taken for public use, without just compensation." 
 
134 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 This is entirely superfluous, and does not belong to the federal 
 constitution ; and, so far as partaining to it, has been provided for 
 in the constitution. The maxim, that an accused criminal shall 
 not incriminate himself, is equivalent to a prohibition of the con- 
 fession of guilt, an utterly immoral and irreligious maxim, more 
 calculated to accommodate and harden scoundrels than to promote 
 order and realize justice. 
 
 "Art. 6. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to 
 a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district where- 
 in the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previ- 
 ously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the 
 accusation ; to be confronted with the witnesses against him ; to have com- 
 pulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assist- 
 ance of counsel for his defence." 
 
 All this is municipal state-business, and does not belong to the 
 federal constitution, and proves that this law was little understood 
 by those who moved such an amendment. 
 
 "Art. 7. In suits at a common law, where the value in controversy shall 
 exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no 
 fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any court of the 
 United States, than according to the rules of common law." 
 
 Also entirely improper for this constitution. Such municipal 
 law-details, as the sum of twenty dollars, never belong to any con- 
 stitution at all, for they ought to be regulated by a statute accord- 
 ing to time and circumstances. If those men, who urged such 
 amendments, had had a seat in the convention, which framed the 
 federal constitution, it would have been either never made, or be- 
 come something entirely different from what it is, most certainly 
 a book of several hundred pages old English law lore, copied 
 from Blackstone, &c. 
 
 " Art. 8. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, 
 nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted." 
 
 Such things must be left to the judgment of the legislatures, 
 and will be taken care of just as well, if not mentioned at all in 
 a constitution. 
 
 "Art. 9. The enumeration in the constitution, of certain rights, shall not 
 be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." 
 
 Is a matter of course. The federal constitution applies merely 
 to the organization of Congress, and nothing else, and can, there- 
 
AMENDMENTS. 185 
 
 fore, not prejudice or alter anything in the social affairs and in- 
 dividual rights of the citizens, and in the public business of 
 towns, counties, and states. And if, notwithstanding, Congress 
 should transgress these limits, all it does would be unconstitutional, 
 and null and void. 
 
 "Art. 10. The powers not delegated to the United States, by the constitu- 
 tion, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, 
 or to the people." 
 
 Is much like Art. 9, and entirely superfluous. 
 
 "Art. 11. The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed 
 to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one 
 of the United States by citizens of another state, or by citizens or subjects of 
 any foreign state." 
 
 I have spoken on this subject elsewhere. It is plain and self- 
 evident also, without an express proviso. 
 
 Art. 12. This amendment I have inserted in Letter XXI. It 
 alters the forms of the presidential election somewhat, but not ma- 
 terially (because the influence of the political parties neutralizes 
 or paralyzes the action of the electoral college), as will be seen 
 by a comparison of it with the original clause of the constitution, 
 which I insert here : 
 
 "3. The electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot 
 for two persons, of whom one at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same 
 state with themselves. And they shall make a list of all the persons voted 
 for, and of the number of votes for each; which lists they shall sign and 
 certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United 
 States, directed to the president of the senate. The president of the senate 
 shall, in the presence of the senate and house of representatives, open all the 
 certificates, and the votes shall then be counted. The person having the 
 greatest number of votes shall be the president, if such number be a majority 
 of the whole number of electors appointed ; and if there be more than one who 
 have such majority, and have an equal number of votes, then the house of 
 representatives shall immediately choose by ballot one of them for president ; 
 and if no person have a majority, then from the five highest on the list the 
 said house shall in like manner choose the president. But in choosing the 
 president, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each 
 state having one vote ; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a mem- 
 ber or members from two thirds of the states, and a majority of all the 
 states shall be necessary to a choice. In every case, after the choice of the 
 president, the persons having the greatest number of votes of the electors 
 shall be the vice-president. But if there should remain two or more who 
 have equal votes, the senate shall choose from them by ballot the vice- 
 president." 
 
136 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 All pains have been taken, as you see, to always get the right 
 man at the helm of the federal state-ship. We can not be but 
 satisfied, thus far, with all our presidents. Impartial history will, 
 when comparing them with the contemporary crowned heads of 
 monarchies, readily yield the palm to them. Their activity is 
 limited by the laws of Congress. No doubt, that the executive 
 and judicial branches of the federal government are, by far, sur- 
 passing the legislative branch, in the prompt and thorough man- 
 agement of their affairs. 
 
 The wheel of time sets facts and circumstances in motion. 
 They are eternally changing. The mind demands new rules for 
 them, but nature remains the same. The sun of Solon illumi- 
 nates our paths to-day. The seasons sung by Homer, are still 
 inspiring our poets. The child, the youth, the old, follow each 
 other in the same order, as when Moses made laws for them. 
 Almost as permanent and stable as nature, is our federal consti- 
 tution. There is no clause in it, which may require a modifica- 
 tion a century hence. I, for one, do not understand, how it could 
 be essentially improved by amending. 
 
 Thus we have discussed one of the best state-papers ever made 
 by men. It has caused me infinite pleasure to go with you over 
 these grounds. They are laid out with great care. The seeds 
 planted there, have grown into large, shadowy trees. May it be 
 my lot and yours to live long beneath them. 
 
 LETTER XXXVIII. 
 
 Washington's Letter to Congress with the Constitution. Duties of Con- 
 federated States and Individuals. Consolidation of the Union. Spirit 
 of Amity and Mutual Deference. Marriage. No Industry secure with- 
 out the Political Organization of Society. 
 
 AFTER the acute politicians of the different states, headed by 
 those of Massachusetts, had exhausted their stock of genuine 
 English legal lore and native acumen in attempting to improve, by 
 amendments, a constitution which they did not know by practice, 
 with what result you have seen, it was addressed to the president 
 of Congress and accompanied by. a letter from General Washing- 
 
LETTER OF PRESENTATION. 137 
 
 ton, president of the convention which framed the constitution ; 
 from which the following extracts are taken. They show in a 
 remarkably clear manner in what light the constitution was then 
 viewed, and what were the objects of its formation : 
 
 " It is obviously impracticable," so writes General Washington, 
 " in the federal government of these states to secure all rights of 
 independent sovereignty to each and yet provide for the interests 
 and safety of all. Individuals entering into society must give up 
 a share of liberty to preserve the rest. The magnitude of the 
 sacrifice must depend as well on situation and circumstance as on 
 the object to be obtained. 
 
 " It is at all times difficult to draw with precision the line be- 
 tween those rights which must be surrendered and those which 
 may be reserved ; and on the present occasion this difficulty was 
 increased by a difference among the several states as to their situ- 
 ation, extent, habits, and particular interests. 
 
 " In all our deliberations on this subject we kept steadily in 
 our view that which appears to us the greatest interest of every 
 true American, the consolidation of the Union, in which is in- 
 volved our prosperity, felicity, safety, perhaps our national ex- 
 istence. This important consideration, seriously and deeply 
 impressed upon our minds, led each state in the convention to be 
 less rigid on points of inferior magnitude than might have been 
 otherwise expected ; a spirit of amity and of that mutual defer- 
 ence and concession which the peculiarity of our political situation 
 rendered indispensable." 
 
 How true ! These few lines alone delineate the deal*, practical, 
 sagacious mind of this great and good citizen. As a young 
 woman never should enter into the matrimonial compact without 
 having before made up her mind to dispense with girlish fancies 
 and habits, and begin a life devoted to the duties of the family 
 state, where the earnest spirit of mutual deference, concession, 
 compromise, and amity must preside, if there shall be union, that 
 is, prosperity, felicity, and comfort at home : so should no single 
 person, no people organized as a state, think of entering into a 
 confederation without dispensing with selfish, anarchical, capri- 
 cious, arrogant, unsocial feelings and pretensions ; for only in such 
 feelings consists what General Washington, in his letter, politely 
 calls independent sovereignty. 
 
138 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Man is created a rational social being : we all depend upon 
 each other. The political organization of society secures order, 
 safety, and compass for our activity. There is no certain plan, 
 pursuit, or career practicable without it. Why, then, should not 
 all men of intelligence cheerfully obey the laws of their country, 
 especially when made by their own representatives ? 
 
 LETTER XXXIX. 
 
 Committees. Appointed in the House by the Speaker, in the Senate by 
 Ballot. The Committee of Ways and Means. Standing Committees. 
 Select Committees. Committee of the Whole Three times Read- 
 ing of Bills. Massachusetts. Twenty-nine Standing Committees. 
 Accusations of Fraud, Corruption, Bribery. Judiciary, English Cus- 
 tom. 
 
 A MOST important part of the machinery by which the public 
 business is performed, is the committees. 
 
 In all legislative bodies, the chief business is usually done 
 by their committees. To these, all matters of business requir- 
 ing investigation and consideration, are first referred, and by 
 whom a report is made upon the subject, which report is the 
 topic of consideration with the legislature. Committees in the 
 house are appointed by the speaker, in the senate by ballot. In 
 the house tlley consist of seven members each, in the senate of 
 five. System in legislative work requires such an arrangement. 
 The business before Congress is thus divided into classes, with 
 an appropriate title for each, and appointing to each a separate 
 committee. These classes are, with little variation, the same in 
 both houses. By the seventh section of the first article of the 
 constitution, it is provided, that all bills for raising revenue shall 
 originate in the house of representatives ; hence the house 
 have a committee which the senate have not, styled " The Com- 
 mittee of Ways and Means." This committee is one of the 
 most important parts of the machinery of legislation, and of the 
 government itself; for in it are investigated all the moneyed 
 affairs of the nation, and by it are digested and reported the 
 
COMMITTEES. 139 
 
 various plans of revenue and finance for the support and credit 
 of the government. 
 
 The principal committees in either house are: the com- 
 mittees on Foreign Relations, on the Judiciary, on Military Af- 
 fairs, on Commerce, etc. These committees are called " Stand- 
 ing Committees ;" while others appointed for particular occasion 
 are called " Select Committees." Besides these, the whole house 
 at times resolves itself into a committee, called the " Committee 
 of the Whole." The object of this is to obtain greater free- 
 dom of debate, under a chairman appointed for the occasion. 
 The rules of the house do not govern, but simply order is pre- 
 served as in common deliberative assemblages. When the 
 Committee of the Whole have finished their discussions, they 
 rise, and, like other cammittees, report to the house, the speaker 
 resumes the- chair, and the members vote in the house upon the 
 acceptance or rejection of the report. 
 
 Every bill or proposition must be read three times previous 
 to its passage, and each reading must receive the formal sanc- 
 tion .of the house. Thus, before a proposition of a member 
 may become a law, the bill has to pass three readings, a com- 
 mittee, the debate on the report of the committee, then it goes 
 to the other house, where it passes through the same stations, 
 and, finally, the scrutiny of the president. I should think 
 those formalities sufficient for the purpose of getting good con- 
 siderate laws ; and still, how few are such. 
 
 This will suffice to give you an insight in the Congress and 
 its working machinery to execute the powers of the constitu- 
 tion. A similar law-making machinery is at work in the several 
 states and territories. 
 
 In Massachusetts there are generally twenty-nine standing 
 committees appointed. They consist of two members on the 
 part of the senate, and five on the part of the house. Each 
 legislature has its own rules and orders on all such subjects. 
 
 The different legislative bodies are in the habit of examining 
 accusations of frauds, corruption, bribery, etc., committed by, and 
 referring to, members of such bodies, or by officials appointed 
 by them proceedings, however, which seldom produce the 
 desired result. It seems that such investigations should be left 
 to the judiciary, whose proper sphere it is to investigate illegal 
 
140 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 acts. The custom is of English origin, where the judiciary 
 depends entirely upon the king, and is considered with jealous 
 eyes by the parliament and people. Our judiciary is a part of 
 the people and deserves full credit. These exceptionary in- 
 quiries are apt to undermine the credit of the legislative body, 
 if the accused party is considered not guilty, even when indeed 
 it is innocent. Better the law should have with us its regular 
 course. 
 
 LETTEE XL. 
 
 Knowledge. Commerce. Money. Cotton. Business is King. Politi- 
 cal Business. Politicians. Statesmen. Genuine and Bogus Politics. 
 Commander Maury's Letters. Dead Sea. Telescopes. Camels. 
 Whales. Patents. Patriotism. Hard Times. High Salaries. 
 Scarcity of Talent. Consolidating Cities. Political and Private, or 
 Free Non-political Business. What it is. French Emperor. Pennsyl- 
 vania selling State Works. General Welfare. Canals. Competition. 
 
 Railroads. Public Debts. National Political Business. Congress. 
 
 Representative System. Municipal Political Business. State Legis- 
 lature. Executive. Judiciary. Organizer. Subdivisions. Coun- 
 ties. Towns. Representative. Counties. Political County Busi- 
 ness. Legislative. Executive. Judicial. Overseer. Supervisor. 
 County Court. Representative. Townships. Political Town Busi- 
 ness. Threefold. Mayor. Aldermen or Selectmen. Democratic 
 Representative. Working Districts. State Failure. Self taxation. 
 Hamburg. Cities. Villages. Size of States, Counties, Towns. 
 Philadelphia. New York. Centralization. Mutual Control. Euro- 
 pean Large Places. Monarchy. Its Philosophy and Substance. Japa- 
 nese Cities. Commodore Perry's Report. Hakodadi. Political Arith- 
 metic and Geometry. Measure for Private Affairs. Crisis. Crash 
 of the Largest Business Concerns. Size of State Confederations. 
 Congress meddling with Non-political and Municipal Local Business. 
 
 American Ladies. Character of Free Non-political Business. 
 Science, Arts, Culture, Religion, Commerce. Society Progressive. 
 States Protective. Monroe Doctrine. Licenses. Liberty of Industry 
 in China, Japan, European States. Publius. Cantons in Switzerland 
 Republics, when consolidated Monarchy. Great Britain consolidated 
 England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales. Mr. D'Israeli. Napoleon III. 
 Missouri Compromise. Division of States. Stability of Government. 
 
 AT certain periods something, call it an idea, genius, or as you 
 please, rules the affairs of mankind. Some say that, at present, 
 
BUSINESS. 141 
 
 knowledge rules the world, others attribute this honor to money, or 
 cotton, or commerce. Is this true ? In some respects, yes. But 
 over knowledge, money, cotton, and commerce, there rules, no 
 doubt, in our age supremely, a stern, logical, mathematical, exact, 
 positive, and really tyrannical master, whose name is business. 
 Its sway and rights begin now to be more universally felt, appre- 
 ciated, and respected, and nowhere more than in the United States. 
 
 What are the thirty millions hoarded in the banks of New York 
 without business 1 Mere dross. What are the ships in our har- 
 bors without business ? Floating Spanish castles. What is all our 
 knowledge, skill, enterprise, and industry, without business ? A 
 sickly thing in a crisis. Business is king. It is the godfather of 
 practical knowledge. It is industry drilled and in march. With- 
 out hard thinking, exertion, perseverance, experimenting, diligence, 
 and labor that sweats the brow in one word, without methodi- 
 cal business, there is no true knowledge, no real wealth. Show me 
 a single dollar, book, or other thing made by man, which is not the 
 product of business. Mere knowledge is culture, too often un- 
 practical, until business gives it tone, form, animation, and creative 
 force. Mere gold is glitter. But let it be carried by business 
 into the streets, streams, wheels, cars, carts, shops, factories, stores, 
 offices, upon the highways and seas, and, magic-like, it will trans- 
 form the most common, inert, hetereogenous, rare, and incongruous 
 things and elements into a living, blissful, harmonious, mutually- 
 benefitting whole ! 
 
 The middle ages were dark, because business was either unknown 
 or despised and persecuted. The sword and mitre were then king 
 of the land. But business prevailed upon the sea, and soon con- 
 quered the land. Since, it has been coveted, privileged, respected, 
 taught, and skilfully systematized in the house, market, and on the 
 field ; it is now conducted with the precision of the solar system, 
 operating with the velocity of electricity, and working with the 
 combined forces of races and elements. See how it presses the 
 "dolce far niente" gents and "poco curante" lazzaroni -loafer- 
 drones in Italy (a railroad in Rome !) Spain, Mexico, and else- 
 where into its service ! how it taps, I will not say stupid, but dark 
 Africa, opens quaint Japan, finds its way into Chinese Tartary 
 deserts, and wherever idleness or false power hovers about or un- 
 appropriated nature sleeps ! Its sway is universal. Proud em- 
 
142 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 perors and haughty queens, arrogant sabre knights and dull brev- 
 iary monks bow before it, and become business men in their turn. 
 Yes, business is king, and an honest, skilful business man the true 
 nobleman of our age. 
 
 It is foreign to the scope of my letters to give you a full picture 
 of the immense power and sway of this modern autocrat. All I 
 can do is to say, that the earth, heavens, and sea are tributary to 
 him ; that all men are his subjects ; and even the most abject 
 loafer that is, a being who shuns business can not drag on his 
 miserable existence without being a cause of business to others, 
 perhaps jailors or hangmen, as the case may be. 
 
 I have, however, to confine myself to one business branch, viz., 
 the political, which, to explain, requires quite a book. It would 
 fill a library to tell you all about the diverse branches of business, 
 from that of Rothschild down to the filitier, from the trunk rail- 
 road to the cartman, from the cotton-spinner to the needlewoman, 
 from the miner to the pinmaker, from the planter to the fruit- 
 vender, from the Appletons to the rag-picker, from the whaler to 
 the oysterman, from the ocean telegramist to the news pedlars, 
 etc., for each haS its own sphere, science, system, history, manipu- 
 lations, chances, and rights.\ Now, to understand the working of 
 republican constitutions and parties, one must well know what is 
 political business and what not, and what difference there is be- 
 tween politicians and statesmen. I most certainly would not 
 trouble you so much with those things, if the happiness of fami- 
 lies or society were not so closely connected with it. Think of 
 California, Kansas, Utah, to say nothing of Mexico, Nicaragua, 
 South America, Spain, Italy, Hungary, etc. 
 
 If the best men in all ages devoted their wealth, comfort, ener- 
 gies, and even their lives to politics, it must be something better, and 
 of more importance to the human family, than what passes under 
 this name in the newspapers and general conversation. What 
 would be our Union, if Washington and his noble compatriots had 
 devoted their lives exclusively to agricultural, mercantile, or manu- 
 factural pursuits ? And what is their merit ? They understood 
 the art of politics well. They were real statesmen, acting for the 
 general welfare, differing entirely from those who are at present 
 called politicians that is, mere placemen, or traders with the 
 public affairs for their personal advantage. 
 
POLITICAL BUSINESS. 143 
 
 When Mr. Commander Maury, in his valuable Letters to his 
 Sons, advised them not to meddle with politics, he took, of course, 
 this word in its improper sense ; but when I have told you, my 
 sons : Study politics well, that you may become masters of this 
 art, and thoroughly acquainted with its bearing upon society, I 
 used the word in its proper sense. 
 
 What public or political officers, in their capacity at public ex- 
 pense, are doing is public or political business, right or wrong. 
 The examination of the water of the Dead sea, the exploration 
 of the whaling grounds, the explanation of the best sailing routes, 
 the looking through government telescopes, the riding on govern- 
 ment camels, at government expense, and the records, maps and 
 books published thereupon by the government ; hospitality and 
 fireworks at public expense, all this is public or political busi- 
 ness. It will be admitted, however, that these examples, and all 
 that is done by political officers, besides the realization of justice, 
 is spurious or improper political business, because it is originally 
 private business. Any traveller may taste the water of the Dead 
 se^ any whaling captain may tell the world all about the feeding 
 grounds of the whales and the best methods of catching them, etc., 
 etc., and at very trifling expense, too, while our Congress has 
 spent for such spurious political business, in two years, six millions 
 of dollars ! Is not this practice utterly wrong ? 
 
 Congress is bound to protect private rights and business, but not 
 to embark in it, or divulge whaling, fishing, manufacturing, and 
 scientific arcanas. I have heard bitter complaints of the congres- 
 sional whaling revelations, because stirring up uncalled-for com- 
 petition. This apropos. 
 
 Patriotic and well-informed statesmen established our Union, 
 and organized the federal government on sound principles, leaving 
 the organization of the municipal affairs to their posterity. But 
 their place is now occupied by speculators in politics. Are only 
 " hard times" raising patriotic men ? Is the flower patriotism not 
 perennial, but only centennial ? 
 
 They well know that the genuine political business, especially 
 that belonging to the states, is not very lucrative, except the sala- 
 ries are high and afford a chance for accumulation. The pretext 
 for them is that talent is scarce and very high in price ; that new 
 offices are required for certain business,, as for compromising or 
 
144 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 conciliation, insolvencies, banks, railroads, etc., which may be by 
 the ordinary officials attended to as well. But their most success- 
 ful operations consist in manufacturing bogus political business, 
 which they do by drawing free social business into the sphere of 
 states, for which purpose they even break down constitutional town, 
 county, or city organizations, and consolidate them, as they call 
 this operation, to get larger spheres for monopolizing gas and rail- 
 road companies, and all kinds of contracts and jobs beyond the 
 possibility of a control by the people. These tactics are the 
 cause of exorbitant taxes, debts, and inevitable. corruption. Badly- 
 governed New York city alone, consequently, pays as much in 
 city taxes as a respectable well-managed kingdom in Europe in 
 state taxes. To stem, now, this wrong current in public affairs 
 so detrimental to society, I beseech you, and all men and women, 
 to learn and understand well exactly what is political business and 
 what is not. 
 
 In a society organized like ours, on the natural and rational 
 principle of self-government, the following objects are private or 
 free social and not political business, viz : industry, as commerce, 
 manufactures, agriculture, speaking, lecturing, preaching, teaching, 
 printing, painting, sculpturing, etc. : further, education in families 
 not to be interfered with by church or state officials ; instruction 
 in schools, academies, colleges, universities, etc. ; literature ; reli- 
 gion ; charity in regard to poor, infirm, sick, etc. ; travelling ; 
 migration ; communications by canals, railroads, etc. With these, 
 and similar affairs, free governments have directly nothing to do, 
 and should provide in regard to them only general laws, for the 
 administration of justice when needed. A free state government 
 indeed never should have the means for such business. In free 
 society men are presumptively perfectly able to manage those 
 objects alone ; and this ability constitutes indeed the great differ- 
 ence between free and subject society. Subjects, as such, admit 
 that they expect from their governments that they should do all 
 for them. The French emperor said this, without reserve, of the 
 Frenchmen, in his speech from the throne to the legislative body, 
 in 1857, and therefore condescended to give advice about the fer- 
 tilizing of the lands in Gascogne. How you would laugh if our 
 president or one of our governors should indulge in such advice ! 
 Still, Congress meddles with similar things, as seed, books, etc. ; 
 
FREE SOCIAL BUSINESS. 145 
 
 and states have embarked in the building of canals and railroads, 
 and the manufacturing of salt, etc. This being no political business 
 at all, the consequence has been imposition, fraud, corruption, ex- 
 travagant expenses, high taxes, undue patronage, overindebtedness 
 and bankruptcy of such states. I refer here only to Pennsylvania 
 and New York. There is no probability that any of our states 
 which aim exclusively at the realization of justice ever will be in- 
 volved in debt or insolvency.' The government of Pennsylvania 
 is returning to sound doctrine and disposing of its state railroads 
 and canals. All other states involved in similar speculations 
 have to follow this example as fast as possible. 
 
 But you may perhaps object : does not this circumscribe the 
 activity of governments too much? Is it not the duty of Con- 
 gress to promote the general welfare ? I am aware that these 
 words occur in the preamble of the constitution. They have 
 been made use of by speculative politicians of all parties for all 
 kinds of schemes, and too often they have succeeded in carrying 
 them out at enormous public expense. The truth is, however, 
 that no government can promote the general welfare of society 
 better than by paying its undivided attention to the realization of 
 justice. If a government should build a canal on account of the 
 general welfare, it must begin with injustice ; because such a work 
 would be built at general expense, to which all those who carry 
 freight now forwarded on the canal, also have to contribute. The 
 government breaks down, by its canal, teamsters and carriers, 
 without offering any indemnification, and forces them besides 
 to pay taxes for the canal and its indebtedness. Instead of 
 protection and justice, this class of citizens and all those con- 
 nected with the prior transportation business, are ruined by the 
 state. Later some private citizens construct cheap and expedi- 
 tious railroads, which supercede by competition the government 
 canal. This canal being backed by state power requires the rail- 
 roads to be taxed for its support a tax which is called "dis- 
 criminating duties.'' Thus begins and ends such a canal in in- 
 justice, simply because government meddles with a private business 
 never belonging to its proper province. Private people among 
 themselves are equal in regard to competition, but not private 
 persons and governments. This applies to books, salt, academies, 
 universities, hospitals, and everything governments undertake 
 
 7 
 
146 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 at public expense which does not properly belong to their 
 sphere. 
 
 If all governments embark in private business, for example, 
 railroad building, express lines, freight and passenger transporta- 
 tion on land and sea, they can not avoid running the race of com- 
 petition together, as it happens between the Pennsylvania and 
 New York state-works, between the New York and Canadian 
 canals and railroads, between the English, French, and United 
 States mail-steamers. This race, of course, is carried out with 
 more or less recklessness, at the expense of the people who are 
 thus saddled with debts and high taxes. Every one who argues 
 fairly, and has a lively sense of what is right between govern- 
 ments and governed, will admit that on one hand the applying of 
 the powerful forces of state institutions in such a direction is 
 against the object and dignity of government, and, on the other 
 hand, that justice alone produces the highest social happiness and 
 welfare imaginable. For this we are exclusively indebted to the 
 art of politics ; because it teaches how to organize society for this 
 elevated noble purpose. 
 
 I hope the time is near when our governments will vie with 
 each other in regard to the best law codes, the promptest admin- 
 istration of justice, the greatest public order, economy, and safety, 
 and leave their intelligent, enterprising, wealthy, and very specu- 
 lative citizens at liberty to take care of the rest. 
 
 If you understand the nature of the non-political or private busi- 
 ness well, I can be short in the description of the political business. 
 This is two-fold national and municipal generally committed to 
 the care of one institution, called a state. The American states, 
 when framing the constitution, separated the national from the muni- 
 cipal business, and left the first to the functional care of Congress. 
 
 First. Of the national political business belonging to Congress 
 we have spoken : it is exceedingly well specified in the constitu- 
 tion. It is managed by accountable and responsible representa- 
 tives, and never by the people directly. After deducting this 
 business there remains 
 
 Second. For a state the business of organizing society politi- 
 cally, that is, for the ends of justice in municipal regard ; setting 
 up for this purpose a constitution, appointing a government, viz: 
 a legislature, executive, and judiciary ; dividing society into smaller 
 
POLITICAL BUSINESS. 147 
 
 political districts, viz : counties and townships, cities and villages ; 
 distributing the political business, viz : the legislative, executive, 
 and judicial, among them ; controlling it ; organizing the state 
 (executive) forces and finances ; enacting all general laws, codes, 
 and statutes. The state institution is also managed by accountable 
 representatives, and as supreme sovereign organizer of society 
 never should be what I call a working district. You will see that 
 without states there would be no Congress. (In regard to the 
 state officials, I refer to the letters on the constitution of the state 
 of New York, in the second part). 
 
 Third. To the counties rightfully belong political local business 
 of importance, and concerning people in several towns. It is, 
 like the state business, legislative, executive, and judicial, and 
 refers to important civil and criminal cases, prisons, penitentiaries, 
 forming of associations under general laws, roads, bridges, inland 
 harbors, county forces, finances, state elections, etc. There occur 
 supervisors, sheriffs, judges, jurors, etc. This district is also a 
 representative and working district. At the head of the execu- 
 tive, in imitation of the federal constitution, should be appointed 
 a single responsible officer, perhaps called overseer. 
 
 Fourth. To the townships or towns rightfully belong the public 
 local business of a more personal or detail character, as voting, 
 census, measures, weights, common schools, sidewalks, streets, 
 taxation, abating of nuisances, minor civil and criminal cases, 
 police, etc., generally enumerated in the statute books. 
 
 The town organization force is but little developed. It may 
 easily be used for hypothecation systems, for mutual insurance 
 objects, and for various other purposes, even with the help of 
 ladies' associations. This will be done if left more free by the 
 busybody legislatures. 
 
 They are the principal working districts, where often the 
 private and public affairs are blended. They alone are truly 
 democratic. They make by-laws, which are executed by the 
 mayor. Why should not, in uniformity with the federal con- 
 stitution, every township have ONE executive, assisted by con- 
 stables or policemen? They have selectmen or aldermen 
 the same thing in reality as representatives of the people and 
 assistants of the executive. The judiciary consists of town judges 
 or justices of the peace, clerks, etc. 
 
148 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 If you will examine the merits of a government, begin first 
 with the towns (communes), and the management of their pub- 
 lic affairs, before you devote much time to the reading of the 
 constitutions of the states, and diplomatic documents, messages, 
 and other state papers. These may all bear a high character, 
 contain the loftiest sentiments, proclaim the soundest principles, 
 still if the towns (cities, villages) are disorderly, full of row- 
 dies, stained with crimes, overburdened with taxes, buried in 
 debts, or in the hands of mobs or vigilance committees, then 
 you may safely hold that the state institution itself is an impos- 
 ture or a failure, whatever may be its name. If you will study 
 the political character and public morals of our people, do not 
 go to Washington when Congress is in session ; spend no time 
 in metropolises or large cities. No, go into a town and attend 
 several town meetings, and see how the citizens, fresh from the 
 field, anvil, and counting-room, converse, debate, speak and re- 
 solve, under a moderator, on their public affairs. 
 
 A general symptom of public corruption is public debts. 
 France and Great Britain take here the lead. Spain owes 
 seven hundred, Switzerland two million dollars. Including the 
 political bank paper-money, the people of the United States 
 have a large public debt, almost as large as Russia, viz., four 
 hundred millions, a country where public corruption and pro- 
 fligacy are the rule. 
 
 If the towns are independent in their home affairs under 
 state control, of course the spirit of patriotism and a brisk 
 emulation among the townships will be kept alive, and a perma- 
 nent home feeling and warm attachment created, from which will 
 spring up those deeds of charity and munificence which are the 
 true glory of a free country. The genuine blessings of liberty 
 ripen there. A true home attachment can only grow up in such 
 a town. And this is the reason why sensible citizens, after liv- 
 ing a while, during the busy stage of life, in large cities, gene- 
 rally terminate it within the precincts of a town. A state con- 
 stitution should contain the general organic dispositions on the 
 formations of towns. It might be well to forbid the creating of 
 public debts, and make self-taxation in towns the rule; it is better 
 than assessing. Free men are well aware that public business 
 and services cause expenses. In the free city of Hamburg, the 
 
SIZE OF STATE, COUNTY, TOWN. 149 
 
 principal taxes are raised by self-taxation. The citizens assess 
 themselves, and state the amount of their property in writing. 
 These statements are recorded, and a tax-roll made out. If a 
 fraudulent estimate is discovered, a revision of the case takes 
 place at the expense of the citizen, and if there is fraud proved 
 or neglect prevalent, he moreover exposes himself to punishment 
 for thus violating his duty as a citizen. It is said, by all who 
 know Hamburg, that this self-assessing never gives cause to com- 
 plaint, and acts admirably well. It is the only just and respect- 
 able manner to raise taxes among free men. We may still learn 
 something from Europe. 
 
 Exceptions from this districting are incorporated cities and vil- 
 lages. If the towns are well organized, and, when growing too 
 populous, conveniently divided, the incorporation of cities, only 
 leading to bad centralization, may be obviated entirely. Most 
 European cities were priorly fortresses, and therefore densely 
 built up. 
 
 It is self-evident, that if in the towns and counties the laws are 
 well executed, society will be in order, and that if not, neither the 
 states proper nor Congress can do much to avert the evil result- 
 ing from a bad execution of the laws. 
 
 It is further obvious, that for a good performance of the neces- 
 sary political affairs, it is indispensable to make those districts of the 
 right proportionate size, that is, neither too large nor too small 
 in regard to population. The best business men can not perform 
 a task which is not adequate ; therefore, the right proportion we 
 may learn from history and experience. A republican state, to 
 preserve its character well, should not contain much over one 
 million of inhabitants, equal to two hundred thousand voters or 
 families ; a rural township not much over ten thousand inhabi- 
 tants, equal to two thousand families ; a city-like built township 
 not much over twenty thousand inhabitants, equal to four thou- 
 sand families ; and a county not over five urban or ten rural 
 towns. 
 
 The real cause of the downfall of republics and of their ex- 
 pensive and corrupt administration, is their imperfect organiza- 
 tion with regard to size, population and business, depriving the 
 citizens of the facility to control the latter and their officials well. 
 Their mutual social control must be preserved wider all circum- 
 
150 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 stances. In monarchies the prince takes studiously the self-con- 
 trol out of the hands of the people. He fetters even for this 
 purpose the press and public discussion, and prohibits meetings, 
 etc., supplying it by a pyramid of official bureaus, controlling 
 each other, or, as the case may be, deceiving each other. , This 
 is called bureaucracy. 
 
 The centralization of the business in New York, Philadelphia, 
 and similar cities, makes it unwieldly. The citizens of such 
 places are not able to control their officials, being strangers to 
 each other. This applies also to towns and counties. Even in 
 monarchical Europe, where the people are controlled by officials, 
 large cities are not so much centralized in regard to their admin- 
 istration as New York. Paris has at least twelve mayoralities or 
 municipalities; London is divided into some thirty odd wards, 
 with an alderman for each, who together are properly the subor- 
 dinate governors of their respective wards, under the direction of 
 the lord-mayor, whom they elect. Besides, there is a legislative 
 council, forming a court of two hundred and fifty members. 
 Dresden, of about one hundred thousand inhabitants, is divided 
 into three districts, which possess corporative rights and jurisdic- 
 tion. Generally, the modern suburbs of old cities are under 
 separate jurisdictions and administrations. Moreover, large places 
 are there guarded by strong garrisons, and often by fortifications 
 and citadels. Centralization has with us become more than a 
 fashion a mania. Men have a strong desire for forbidden 
 things. Monarchy is a forbidden fruit for us ; still, by central- 
 izing towns, by letting towns grow up to states, and states to em- 
 pires, we follow the monarchical policy. The centralization of 
 the public business, especially the legislature, in a few hands, is 
 the philosophy and substance of monarchy. To keep the busi- 
 ness resulting from it in one or a few hands, with the emoluments, 
 patronage, and influence, standing armies are made use of. &till, 
 neither standing armies, nor castes, nor state churches would help 
 make monarchies without the previous centralization of the 
 political business. By devoting, in the outset, a county for a 
 city, as has been done in New York, Philadelphia (?) San Fran- 
 cisco, etc., and making thus a clean sweep with the townships, we 
 graft a monarchical scion upon the liberty tree of a free so- 
 ciety. 
 
. SIZE OP STATE, COUNTY, TOWN. 151 
 
 It is a political error, except we give to the wards a similar 
 organization which properly belongs to the townships, which, 
 of course, would then involve a mere change of names. All 
 regularly-settled states, counties, and towns, within the size I 
 have indicated, are, so far as 1 am acquainted with them, well 
 managed, and free of corruption, which proves the correctness 
 of my position. 
 
 Exceptions make mushroom states or territories, as California, 
 Kansas, Utah, forced into existence by extraordinary circum- 
 stances. Their failure proves that republics are not the work of 
 miners, projectors, and Sharpe's rifle associations and priestcraft. 
 So we may safely argue that all states, counties, and towns, be- 
 yond the indicated size, have outrun their republican career. 
 They may, under favorable circumstances, be for a while well 
 managed ; still, this is then more the work of accident than of 
 necessity. Gradually and irresistibly corruption will creep in, 
 and increase in proportion as the mutual control becomes less 
 practicable. This is a most important truth. 
 
 You will now see why, especially our large cities, swim in con- 
 stant trouble, either with their officials or with mobs ; because 
 the first can not grasp the business, and if they could, do not 
 serve long enough to become thoroughly acquainted with it, or 
 they may do as they please, being without a practical control of 
 the people ; and further, because mobs will invariably rise under 
 such circumstances. We can reform this. According to all we 
 know of the Japanese, they understand very well how to or- 
 ganize large, densely-populated districts, evidently by avoiding 
 the centralization of the public business, and by sustaining inde- 
 pendent town organizations, as the following extract from Com- 
 modore Perry's report will show. He says, page 437, vol. ii. of 
 Hakodadi : 
 
 " The town contains a thousand houses (probably ten thousand 
 inhabitants), belonging to the imperial fief of Matsmai, and is the 
 largest town on the island of Tesso, with the exception of Mats- 
 mai, from which it is distant about thirty miles in an easterly 
 direction. An excellent road connects the two places, and a large 
 trade is carried on between them. This town is regularly built, 
 with streets running at right angles with each other. They are 
 between thirty and forty feet in width, and all carefully macadam- 
 
152 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 ized to allow of the proper draining of water. There are open 
 gutters on each side, which receive the drippings of the houses 
 and the washings of the street, and also well-constructed sewers, 
 through which the surplus water and the refuse are poured into 
 the bay. The sidewalks, which are frequently paved, are curbed 
 with stone planted on edge as with us ; but as no wheeled car- 
 riages are found in the town, the middle of the street is used 
 indiscriminately in dry weather by the pedestrian. Hakodadi, 
 like all the Japanese towns, is remarkably clean, the streets being 
 suitably constructed for draining, and kept, by constant sprinkling 
 and sweeping, in a neat and healthful condition. Wooden picket 
 fences with gates cross the streets at short intervals ; these are 
 opened for the passage of the people during the day, but closed at 
 night. The same municipal regulations obtain in Hakodadi as in 
 all the other towns of Japan. The inhabitants of the several 
 streets (blocks, wards) form so many separate communities, as it 
 were, responsible for the conduct of each other, each governed by 
 an official called ' ottona ' (alderman), who is also held responsi- 
 ble for the good order of the people under his especial charge, 
 and these ottonas are also made responsible for the conduct of 
 each other. The gates and picket fences would seem to mark 
 out the separate fields of duty of these officials. At one side of 
 the street, among the houses, there is ordinarily a sentry-box for 
 a watchman, whose duty it is to guard the town against disturb- 
 ance, and give early notice of the occurrence of fire. A general 
 quiet pervades the streets no turbulent mob disturbs the general 
 peace and tranquillity." 
 
 I regret that this voluminous pictorial report is silent about the 
 city government proper, its costs, income, election, appointment, 
 taxes, etc. The administration of the cities in America and 
 Europe is still so imperfect, that such information should have 
 taken the place of the many useless pictures and local descrip- 
 tions in this work. But this notice, as meagre as it is, is highly 
 significant and instructive. The distribution of the police should 
 be imitated at once. The mutual control and responsibility of the 
 wards and the night police are excellent. By such minute dis- 
 tricting large densely built-up towns can be alone made orderly. 
 
 Much depends upon the political arithmetic and geometry. 
 Without minding its rules, 'our society must and will become un- 
 
SIZE OF CONFEDERATION. 153 
 
 ruly. Who can, should shun with his family large places with 
 centralized administrations, to be not troubled by mobs, corrup- 
 tion, high exorbitant taxes, public debts, vigilance committees, 
 extras, and other evils incident to such defective political organi- 
 zations. 
 
 There is, also, a certain just measure for private affairs, as for 
 everything, which to transgress is imprudent. Experience proves 
 that over-large farms, manufactures, railroads and similar works, 
 yield less revenue, suffer more from the ever-occurring fluctuations 
 of trade, and are more exposed to losses by fraud than smaller 
 controllable establishments of this kind. In the late crisis, the 
 crash began with the largest business concerns. But private 
 business being foreign to my subject, I must leave it to you to 
 ponder upon that which is " overlarge " in this regard, and add 
 rather a few words about the proportion of a confederation like 
 ours. Upon this subject the political geography has naturally 
 much influence. The introduction of steam and telegraphs, and 
 other mechanical discoveries, facilitate the uniting of numerous 
 small states. If the central government be strictly confined to 
 national business, it may be extended until the political geography- 
 advises or forces to stop. 
 
 If Congress is to meddle with such business as road-building, 
 sand-banks, snags and flats removing, hospital and harbor build- 
 ing, cotton-seed, plants, Dutch tulips, sugar cane, camels, books 
 and pictorials, and the like, then our confederation is already much 
 too large. Instead of making the seed-man for the farmers, and 
 the livery-stable man for those who cross the Plains, it should 
 first discharge all legitimate claims against its treasury, to give a 
 telling example of Christian righteousness and Washingtonian 
 scrupulous honesty to the people. 
 
 Thus we see how important is a correct understanding of what 
 is exactly political business and what not, and where it ought to 
 be performed, and the right size of the public business-districts. 
 System is a natural condition of our mind. Wherever combined 
 labor is required, it is brought into a system, and divided, dis-r 
 tributed, and so employed that, with proper supervision, it MUST 
 work well. The necessity of system, order and proportion, is as 
 self-evident in educational, mechanical, manufacturing, mercantile, 
 and agricultural establishments, as in households, towns, counties, 
 
 7* 
 
154 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 states, and confederations of states. A written regulation for any 
 one of these concerns may be as well called a constitution ; but 
 it is usual to give this name only to one for a social political 
 organization. Still its object is the same : regulation of labor, 
 business, or functions. From this plain common-sense view, we 
 comprehend best why political organizations or constitutions ought 
 to be strictly adapted to the actual state of society and business, 
 or, in one word, ought to be practical, and not visionary and 
 Utopian. The American ladies are excellent organizers. I hope, 
 then, that my letters will find favor with them, however long and 
 tedious they are, according to the jejune nature of their subjects. 
 
 The non-political business, if free, is immensely expansive and 
 progressive, like society itself. Sciences, arts, religion, commerce, 
 etc., belong to all, are for all. But the political business is con- 
 fined to certain districts. Governments are not universal not for 
 all ; their business is exclusive, conservative, stable, protective. 
 It is, as I mentioned before, a mistake to call the state institutions 
 progressive. Society alone is progressive under it, and therefore 
 this ought to be stable to prevent confusion. Insular position, like 
 that of Great Britain, or distance from powerful nations, like that 
 of the United States, increases this exclusiveness, and adds to the 
 security and strength of the government. From the exclusive 
 character of the political business, sprung up what is called the 
 Monroe doctrine, or the principle that no government has a right 
 to meddle with the affairs of others. This principle applies with 
 as much force to families, towns, and counties, as to states and 
 nations, because each of v those concerns is, within its proper sphere, 
 exclusive or independent. This rule may be extended over a con- 
 tinent, viz. over America, in regard to Europe, etc., if all Ameri- 
 can governments would adopt and execute it. This principle, 
 however, will fall to the ground, if all states aim at nothing but 
 justice, for then there would be no chance for interference or en- 
 croachments, or even treaties, at all. 
 
 By means of licenses a certain class of public business is com- 
 mitted to the care of private persons, as the establishing and 
 building of ferries, bridges, roads, etc., who derive their rights 
 from the tenor of the license, which they forfeit by violation. 
 Justice towards the public is the true cause of this expedient. 
 Still many governments, also in the United States, have this licen- 
 
LICENSES. 155 
 
 sing extended for the purpose of raising revenues, which, of course, 
 is an abusive infringement of free social business, as commerce, 
 trading, industry, etc. 
 
 The real humane development and culture depends upon the 
 liberty of industry. In the proportion governments interfere with 
 it, man is enslaved. The lowest degree is absolute serfdom. 
 Then come the Chinese and Japanese systems, which admit a cer- 
 tain degree of internal industrial freedom, but are exclusive in 
 regard to foreigners. The system of classifying the trades, and 
 arming them with monopolistic privileges, still prevalent in many 
 states on the European continent, follows next. Then we meet 
 the different custom systems, which are more or less exclusive, or 
 Chinese. Even the patent- rights must be mentioned here. 
 There has not existed a single government which, in one way or 
 another, even only by raising taxes, has not interfered with the 
 liberty of industry, so that one may come to the conclusion that a 
 full enjoyment of this freedom from all shackles is impracticable, 
 if not impossible. Still, the truth can not be denied that a full ex- 
 pansion of humanity depends upon the full enjoyment of this 
 noble gift of nature. 
 
 " The interest of the man must be connected with the consti- 
 tutional rights of the place," so says Publius (A. Hamilton) in 
 one of his excellent articles on the federal constitution in the 
 Federalist. This is perfectly right, because by such a connection 
 these interests are protected. Hence the necessity not to unsettle 
 or disturb these constitutional rights, and my ardent pleading for 
 good stable town and county organizations by the constitution, in 
 order to render the naturally settling down force of business se- 
 cure. 
 
 The same writer and statesman remarks, that a great difficulty 
 of free governments is to create an effective control of them. 
 Now, is not the only practical and effective self-control of a gov- 
 ernment in a constitution which expressly prohibits to meddle, by 
 special laws, with the constitutional business of towns and coun- 
 ties, and with the free non-political business of society at large, 
 school-books and the bible included ? 
 
 Men of culture are attached to their business interests like 
 slaves to their masters. It is also well known that the regular 
 occupation of man leaves an indelible impression upon his charac- 
 
156 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 ter and manners. The same is true of the political business. 
 Consolidate the public affairs of the small state-districts, called 
 Cantons in Switzerland, and soon the government of the whole 
 will become monarchical, and the same men who were with soul 
 and body republicans, will become with body and soul monarchical 
 subjects, because their interest, their business, is managed in a 
 monarchical manner. 
 
 All the power of the English government is a product of busi- 
 ness centralization, eulogized by D'Israeli in his late speech against 
 the Palmerston cabal. Still the " military disasters," the com- 
 plaints of the clumsy management of the army and the civil ser- 
 vice, filling the blue books for years, are the result of this business 
 accumulation in London. Of course, Napoleon III. praised cen- 
 tralization highly in his speech at the occasion of the celebration 
 of the enlargement of the Luxembourg palace. 
 
 Let us apply this political business-theory to an important event 
 at home, the abolition of the so-called Missouri compromise. Why 
 is this, I ask, a most judicious statesmanlike political act? An- 
 swer : because it removes from Congress the last vestige or pre- 
 cedent of a power to legislate on a local business, bound labor, 
 which does not belong to its constitutional sphere, the direct con- 
 sequence of which now is, the full liberty to divide overgrown 
 states in the north, without exciting the fear of the southern states 
 about their local domestic affairs, by altering the senatorial repre- 
 sentation. You see that by a slight mistake about such a single 
 plain local business all labor is business we may risk the 
 stability of our Union, because our southern fellow-citizens will 
 rather secede from the Union than give up the management of 
 their own local interests ; and by doing so they are pre-eminently 
 right, and those who interfere with them exceedingly wrong. 
 
 It remains for me to answer a single question more, before I 
 conclude this long epistle ; that is, what government is the most 
 stable ? that which allows the greatest liberty of industry. A 
 government which follows the opposite theory must surround it- 
 self by a great number of officials of all sorts, in which regard 
 we have again to mention first the Chinese and Japanese govern- 
 ments as examples. Commodore Perry, in his report, complains 
 often of swarms of officials and spies, commanded to exclude the 
 people from the intercourse with the Americans. The vexatious 
 
LICENSES. 157 
 
 busy bodin ess of the mandarins is well known. Then follow 
 Russia, France, Austria, Prussia, etc., with their public, secret, 
 and detective police, gendarmes, custom-line guards, standing 
 armies, etc., etc., contrivances which, in their nature, interfere 
 with industry, are galling to the people, and undermining the 
 stability of governments. People, with a delicate frame of mind, 
 revolt at the idea that a government may fetter the press, confis- 
 cate books and papers, or tamper with the spelling and reading- 
 books in schools. The first may cost Napoleon III. his crown, 
 the second will deprive a republican government of its dignity, 
 the crown which adorns it and gives it authority. Also, the busi- 
 ness of teaching should enjoy full liberty. Upon the use of 
 school-books the teacher has to decide, and not statesmen. 
 
 Suppose there should be a class of the citizens, from theologi- 
 cal reasons, opposed to the use of the bible in the public schools, 
 and a political party interested in the vote of this class, and the 
 legislature attempted to enforce by law the use of the bible for 
 instruction, then this party would oppose the law, in order to profit 
 by that vote. If now the use of the bible depends upon the law 
 or state interference, and not upon the free agency of teachers 
 and parents, the bible will likely remain excluded from ALL pub- 
 lic schools as long as the government is allowed to interfere with 
 such private affairs ; while the use of this book would be almost 
 general if it depended, as it ought, wholly upon teachers and 
 parents to decide whether it shall be used or not. But let me 
 conclude this rambling over the immense field of occupation, in- 
 dustry, and business. 
 
158 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 LETTER XLI. 
 
 Election Impulses. Social Movements organized in the United States, 
 Health producing. Social Movements in Europe destructive. Famine, 
 Gold, Conquest, Religion, Liberty. Main Social-Impulses. Liberty- 
 Impulse of the Republican Party. American Party acting unimpulsive. 
 Dear Union-Impulse of the Democratic Party. 
 
 I ADD an article, for the benefit of party politicians, written on 
 the result of the presidential election in 1856, which may have 
 a bearing upon the election in 1860. 
 
 Masses and large assemblages move by impulses, which may 
 be right or wrong, genuine or sham, according to circumstances. 
 Masses do not reason like individuals. Reason is cold, void of ca- 
 loric, the impulses of society are warm, electric, and powerful, like 
 those which lift the ocean waves from their repose, while those of 
 individuals are like the forces which make a rivulet meandering. 
 Still individuals and society, like rivulets and oceans, require for 
 their health MOTION. In free society like ours the motion of the 
 masses is foreseen, organized, legalized, the individual is master 
 of himself; in subject so'ciety, however, like that in Europe, its 
 motion is left to nature, social tempests, called wars, emeutes, rev- 
 olutions, and the individual is bemastered by restrictions, caste 
 distinctions, and a great many other political and clerical contri- 
 vances well known. Social movements in Europe are mostly de- 
 structive, while with us they are a necessary part of our social 
 regimen and well-being. As a general thing famine, gold, con- 
 quest, religion, and liberty are the main impulses of grand social 
 movements. 
 
 The presidential election which just moved the social sea of 
 twenty-six millions can not be understood without an examination 
 of the various impulses at work. The movement of the republi- 
 cans was propelled by the impulse of liberty (and gold or offices 
 besides), that of the democrats by the impulse of union (with the 
 same indispensable golden appendage) ; the effort of the Americans 
 did not amount to an impulse. Hunger or famine, conquest or 
 religion, the great social impulses in Europe, Asia, etc., had, of 
 
ELECTION IMPULSES. 159 
 
 
 
 course, nothing to do with the fourth of November, this movement 
 being appointed by law. It is obvious that in free society only 
 that impulse should succeed at national elections which is just re- 
 quired by circumstances. Now, I &sk, was the liberty-impulse 
 of the republicans, indeed, a necessity, or merely manufactured 
 for the political trade ? My opinion is that it was spurious and 
 mere sham, because in our country the impulse of liberty has been 
 long ago, at the time of the revolution and by the successful es- 
 tablishing of the federal constitution, entirely used up ; both events 
 have rendered us sufficiently free, independent, and self-governing. 
 When the republicans cried out on the stump, in the tabernacle, 
 in Wall street, " we strike for liberty," everybody must have been 
 struck by the folly and absurdity of the thing in our absolutely 
 free society. 
 
 But there are slaves in the southern states ! Well there are. 
 Can they, in our free and well-organized society, be freed by a so- 
 cial movement, or anybody else but their masters ? Sane men in 
 Massachusetts have as little to do with this business in Georgia or 
 Kansas, as with the liberation of the subjects in Great Britain 
 and of the serfs in Russia. This sham liberty impulse has been 
 justly rebuked in the city of New York. It failed there in spite 
 of the most tremendous exertion of a host of able editors, power- 
 ful speakers, and inspired preachers to the contrary notwithstand- 
 ing. People here appreciated this charlatan liberty-cry well. 
 But not so in the distance ; there people believe in the Metropoli- 
 tan and Boston liberty stuff, as they are apt to patronize other 
 charlatans from these latitudes. Hence the total failure of the 
 republicans here, and their comparative success in the provinces. 
 Nobody is easier carried away by the liberty impulse than the 
 Europeans, from very natural reasons. The most influential Ger- 
 man newspapers joined the republicans. 
 
 The Americans have been entirely unsuccessful because they 
 acted unimpulsive from the beginning. A SECRET society for the 
 control of the PUBLIC affairs is not impulsive, but to a great many 
 indeed repulsive, and so it is the disapproving of the abolition of 
 the Missouri line ; so it is the prolongation of the Congressional 
 naturalization term of five years, actually disregarded by all state 
 legislatures. Even the sentiment that we shall be ruled by our 
 own laws, can never act as a social impulse, because it is a plain 
 
160 THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 matter-of-course. All this is not moving, not propelling, not 
 warming it is political, cold water clinic. 
 
 Now, was the union-impulse, which moved the democratic 
 masses, the true one in our time ? The result of the election says, 
 yes ! It was high TIME to settle in the Union by a decisive pop-: 
 ular vote the most vexatious business-question : shall the legisla- 
 tion of the late Congress in regard to the equal rights of our cit- 
 izens in the territories to rule themselves by their own laws, as the 
 rest of us, also in regard to free and bound labor, be conclusive or 
 not ? That people in Pennsylvania were not deceived by the lib- 
 erty agitation, like others, is owing to their steering for this union- 
 result since 1819, by resolves of their legislature and state dem- 
 ocratic committee, an important item in the history of this election. 
 
 The plain result of this grand election movement is, then, that 
 the union sentiment is a stronger social impulse than abstract lib- 
 erty, and justly so, because without a firm harmonious union we 
 could not enjoy our liberty at all. May this sentiment predomi- 
 nate for ever. 
 
 I mentioned the year 1860. Then returns the presidential elec- 
 tion and a new run for the offices and their emoluments. It may 
 be that pretext, liberty of the slave, will then be again made use 
 of to strengthen the party out of office and power. You will know 
 then what it means, and not be deceived. 
 
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 161 
 
 LETTER XLII. 
 
 Declaration of Independence. Defining of the Position of the Young Na- 
 tion. Explanation of the Sentence, " that all men are born equal." 
 Jefferson's Letter explaining it.' 
 
 IN this letter I devote a few words to the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence, adopted, after an animated debate, on the 4th of July, 
 1776, by the Congress. Its author, as you know, was Thomas Jef- 
 ferson, the most illustrious compeer of Washington. The princi- 
 pal object of this celebrated document was : To define the position 
 of the young nation and its government ; to declare why a sepa- 
 ration from the government of Great Britain had taken place, and 
 to enlisten the sympathies of the civilized nations and their govern- 
 ments in their favor. This declaration bears the character of the 
 exciting times ; it boldly defies the authority of a proud royal mas- 
 ter, who could not listen to humble reiterated petitions for relief 
 and remonstrances against arbitrary legislation in small matters, 
 involving, however, important principles. It was, for the time-be- 
 ing, the platform of the young American nation, upon which the 
 war of the Revolution was fought. You may call it an arraign- 
 ment, an appeal, a challenge, or the "shriek" of an outraged peo- 
 ple ; but it is no law. It takes high ground, in powerful words, 
 which, when sharply examined, would not always bear criticism. 
 The sentence, that all men are created equal, is not exactly true, 
 both physically and politically. Not two men, even not two chil- 
 dren in the same family, are created alike. The same diversity 
 which distinguishes all created things, animate and inanimate, 
 prevails in our race. Politically men are as different as the poli- 
 cies under which they are born. Not two men are politically 
 equal, and never will be. Women and .men are never absolutely 
 equal in political regard. There is no absolute equality of civil 
 rights, although every member of society has a right to be treated 
 according to the general principles of justice. Such allocutions 
 to nations, or to masses, meetings, etc., are of a rather poetical 
 
162 DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 
 
 nature, calculated to rouse the feelings. Only in this form they 
 answer to their purpose ; it is wrong to take them from another 
 view. All platforms, all addresses of generals to their armies 
 on the battle-field, belong to the same class of literary and ora- 
 torical products. If this sentence has a political meaning, it is no 
 other than that the authors of this declaration were of the opinion, 
 that privileged classes, as nobles, possessed of exclusive heredi- 
 tary rights, as governing, exemption from taxes, etc., are incompat- 
 ible with justice. And then it was a seasonable fling at the Eng- 
 lish king and nobility, who opposed the independence of the thir- 
 teen colonies, because the people there were BONN SUBJECTS of the 
 English crown. This was especially opposed by Jefferson. In a 
 much later letter, dated Monticello, June 24, 1827, upon an invi- 
 tation to the anniversary of American Independence, the patriot 
 wrote : " May it [our form of government] be to the world what 
 I believe it will be, [to some parts sooner, to others later, but 
 finally to all], the signal of arousing men to burst the chains un- 
 der which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded 
 them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings and security 
 of self-government. The form which we have substituted restores 
 the free right to the unbounded exercise of reason and freedom of 
 opinion. All eyes are opened or opening to the rights of man. 
 The general spread of the lights of science has already laid open 
 to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has 
 not been horn with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few, 
 footed and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace 
 of God." 
 
 No better explanation of the true meaning of this much-dis- 
 puted sentence can be found than that in these lines of the author 
 of the Declaration of Independence. He hated in 1827, as well as 
 in 1776, the men who pretend that they are born expressly to rule 
 mankind. This Jefferson considered wrong, and denied that God 
 ever had created a man for this purpose. So you may never mis- 
 take this sentence atxmt the equal creation of men, as so many do, 
 from mere party views, or a too strictly literal interpretation. 
 
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 163 
 
 DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, JULY 4, 1776. 
 
 The unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America in Con- 
 gress assembled. 
 
 WHEN, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people 
 to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and 
 to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to 
 which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitled them, a decent respect 
 to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes 
 which impel them to the separation. 
 
 We hold these truths to be self-evident : that all man are created equal ; 
 that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights ; that 
 among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ; that, to secure 
 these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just 
 powers from the consent of the governed ; that, whenever any form of gov- 
 ernment becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to 
 alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation 
 on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall 
 seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will 
 dictate that goverments long established should not be changed for light and 
 transient causes ; and, accordingly, all experience hath shown that mankind 
 are more disposed to suffer, while evil are sufferable, than to right themselves 
 by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long 
 train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces 
 a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their 
 duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their 
 future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies, and 
 such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems 
 of government. The history of the present king of Great Britain is a his- 
 tory of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the es- 
 tablishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let 
 facts be submitted to a candid world : 
 
 He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary for 
 the public good. He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate 
 and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent 
 should be obtained ; and, when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to at- 
 tend to them. He has refused to pass other laws for the accomodation of 
 large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of 
 representation in the legislature a right inestimable to them, and formi- 
 dable to tyrants only. He has called together legislative bodies at places 
 unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the repository of their public rec- 
 ords, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his mea- 
 sures. He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly for opposing with 
 manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. He has refused, 
 for a long time after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected ; where- 
 by the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the 
 
164 DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, 
 
 people at large for their exercise the state remaining, in the meantime, ex- 
 posed to all the dangers of invasion from without and convulsions within. 
 
 He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states for that 
 purpose obstructing the laws of naturalization of foreigners, refusing to pass 
 others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new 
 appropriation of lands. 
 
 He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to 
 laws for establishing judiciary powers. 
 
 He has made judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure of their of- 
 fices and the amount and payment of their salaries. 
 
 He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of offi- 
 cers to harass our people and eat out their substance. 
 
 He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies, without the 
 consent of our legislatures. 
 
 He has affected to render the military independent of, and superior to, the 
 civil power. 
 
 He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our 
 constitution and unacknowledged by our laws giving his assent to their 
 acts of pretended legislation. 
 
 For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us ; for protecting 
 them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should 
 commit on the inhabitants of these states ; for cuttirfg off our trade with all 
 parts of the world; for imposing taxes on us without our consent; for de- 
 priving us, in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury ; for transporting 
 us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offences ; for abolishing the free 
 system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an ar- 
 bitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries, so as to render it at once 
 an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into 
 these colonies ; for taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable 
 laws, and altering, fundamentally, the forms of our governments ; for sus- 
 pending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power 
 to legislate for us in all cases whatsover. 
 
 He has abdicated government here by declaring us out of his protection 
 and waging war against us. 
 
 He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and des- 
 troyed the lives of our people. 
 
 He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to com- 
 plete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with cir- 
 cumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous 
 ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation. 
 
 He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the high seas, to 
 bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends 
 and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands. 
 
 He has excited domestic insurrections among us, and has endeavored to 
 bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages, whoso 
 known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, 
 and conditions. 
 
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 165 
 
 In every stage of these oppressions, we have petitioned for redress in the 
 most humble terms. Our repeated petitions have been answered only by re- 
 peated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which 
 may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. 
 
 Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have 
 warned them, from time to time, of attempts, by their legislature, to extend 
 an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the cir- 
 cumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to 
 their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them, by the 
 ties of our common kindred, to disavow these usurpations, which would in- 
 evitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They, too, have 
 been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, 
 acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation, and hold them, as 
 we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace, frienxls. 
 
 We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in 
 general Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judges of the World 
 for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of 
 the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare that these 
 united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states ; 
 that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all 
 political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and 
 ought to be, totally dissolved ; and that, as free and independent states, they 
 have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish 
 commerce, and to do all other acts and things which indepen dent states may 
 of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on 
 the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our 
 lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. 
 
166 WASHINGTON'S CIRCULAR LETTER. 
 
 LETTER XLIII. 
 
 Federalist. Hamilton. Monroe. Jay. Washington's Circular Letter 
 to the Governors of the several States. Articles of Confederation a loose 
 Wickerwork. Enviable National and Political Condition of the Citizens 
 of America. Civilization. A Compact Indissoluble Union, a Sacred 
 Regard to Public Justice, a Proper Peace Establishment, a Good Friendly 
 Mutual Feeling among the People, the Four Essential Things to the Well- 
 Being, Existence, and Independent Power of the United States. Liberty 
 is the Baisis of the Whole. Crisis, Political and Monetary. 
 
 You know from the history of the United States that the first 
 effort to form a government under certain articles of confedera- 
 tion was almost a total failure. To save the country, some dis- 
 tinguished patriots wrote a series of anonymous articles in favor 
 of a better Union, now collected in a book called the Federalist. 
 The authors were Hamilton, Monroe, and Jay. Washington 
 never wrote except in his official duty. But a few productions 
 of his pen may have exercised more sway over the minds of his 
 countrymen than books. They are patterns for official reports, 
 which, in modern times have vastly degenerated. That you may 
 have them at hand I insert here an extract from a circular letter, 
 written by General Washington, as commander-in-chief of the 
 armies of the United States of America, to the governors of the 
 several states, dated, Headquarters, Newburgh, June 18, 1783. 
 In this letter he states, first, that he is preparing to resign and 
 return to that domestic retirement which it is well known he left 
 with the greatest reluctance, and after the great object of his 
 public activity had been accomplished. He further offers, before 
 retiring from public service, his sentiments respecting some im- 
 portant subjects which appeared to him to be intimately connected 
 with the tranquillity of the United States. That he did not give 
 them to the public at large, or to Congress, but laid them before 
 the governors of the young independent states, was a happy hit 
 of that common-sense sagacity of which few men possessed an 
 ampler share than Washington. The people were oppressed by 
 
167 
 
 the burdens of the war ; the present Union far from being formed ; 
 the articles of confederation a loose wickerwork which could be 
 broken down by the defeat of a single state ; the-citizens were in 
 a state of fermentation, harboring expectations difficult or impos- 
 sible to realize, and even inclined to revolt. (Shay's revolt). 
 How wise was it, then, under these critical circumstances, to make 
 the governors, instead of a book or newspaper, the depositories of 
 his sentiments ! Nothing was better calculated to dispose them 
 favorably for their realization as state measures. The principal 
 subject of this address is in his own words, as follows : 
 
 " The citizens of America, placed in the most enviable condition, as the 
 sole lords and proprietors of a vast tract of continent, comprehending all the 
 various soils and climates of the world and abounding with all the necessa- 
 ries and conveniences of life, are now, by the late satisfactory pacification, 
 acknowledged to be possessed of absolute freedom and independency ; they 
 are from this period to be considered as the actors on a most conspicuous 
 theatre, which seems to be peculiarly designed by Providence for the display 
 of human greatness and felicity. Here they are not only surrounded with 
 everything that can contribute to the completion of private and domestic en- 
 joyment, but Heaven has crowned all its other blessings by giving a surer 
 opportunity for political happiness than any other nation has ever been favored 
 with. 
 
 " Nothing can illustrate these observations more forcibly than the recol- 
 lection of the happy conjuncture of the times and circumstances under 
 which our republic assumed its rank among the nations. The foundation 
 of our empire has not been laid in a gloomy age of ignorance and supersti- 
 tion, but at an epoch when the righfs of mankind Avere better understood and 
 more cl'-arly defined than at any former period. Researches of the human 
 mind after social happiness have been carried to a great extent ; the treasures 
 of knowledge acquired by the labors of philosophers, sages, and legislators, 
 through a long succession of years, are laid open for use; and their collected 
 wisdom m;ty be happily applied in the establishment of our forms of govern- 
 ment. The free cultivalion of letters, the unbounded extension of commerce, 
 the progressive refinement of manners, the growing liberality of sentiment, 
 and, above all, the pure and benign light of revelation, have had a meliorating 
 influence on mankind and increased the blessings of society. At this auspi- 
 cious period the United Statts came into exisfence as a nation, and if their 
 ciiizens should not be completely free and happy, the fault will be entirely 
 their own. 
 
 " Such is our situation and such are our prospects. But notwithstanding 
 the cup of blessing is thus reached out to us notwithstanding happiness is 
 ours if we have the disposition to seize the occasion and make it our own, 
 yet it appears to me there is an option still left to the United States of 
 America whether they will be respectable and prosperous or contemptible and 
 
168 
 
 miserable as a nation,. This is the time of their political probation ; this is 
 the moment when the eyes of the whole world are upon them ; this is the time to 
 establish or ruin their national character for ever ; this is the favorable 
 moment to give such a tone to the federal government as will enable it to 
 answer the ends of its institution; or this maybe the ill-fated moment for 
 relaxing the powers of the Union, annihilating the cement of the confedera- 
 tion, and exposing us to become the sport of European politics, which may play 
 one state against another, to prevent their growing importance, and to serve their 
 own interested pur-poses ; for, according to the system of policy the states shall 
 adopt at this moment, they will stand or fall ; and by their confirmation or 
 lapse, it is yet to be decided whether the revolution must ultimately be con- 
 sidered as a blessing or a curse ; a blessing or a curse not to the pi-esent age 
 alone, for with our fate will the destiny of unborn millions be involved. 
 
 " With this conviction of the importance of the present crisis, silence in 
 me would be a crime. I will therefore speak to your excellency the lan- 
 guage of freedom and sincerity, without disguise. I am aware, however, 
 those who differ from me in political sentiments may perhaps remark I am 
 stepping out of the proper line of my duty; and they may possibly ascribe 
 to arrogance or ostentation what I know is alone the result of the purest 
 intention; but the rectitude of my own heart, which disdains such unworthy 
 motives the part I have hitherto acted in life, the determination I have 
 formed of not taking any share in public business hereafter, the ardent desire 
 I feel and shall continue to manifest of quietly enjoying in private life, after 
 all the toils of war, the benefits of a wise and liberal government will, I 
 flatter myself, sooner or later convince my countrymen that I could have 
 no sinister views in delivering with so little reserve the opinions contained in 
 this address. 
 
 " There are four things which I humbly conceive are essential to the well- 
 being, I may even venture to say, to the existence of the United States as 
 an independent power : 
 
 " First. An indissoluble union of the states under one head ; 
 
 " Second. A sacred regard to public justice ; 
 
 " Third. The adoption of a proper peace establishment; and 
 
 " Fourth. The prevalence of that pacific and friendly disposition among the 
 people of the United States which will induce them to forget their local pre- 
 judices and politics, to make those mutual concessions which are requisite to 
 the general prosperity, and, in some instances, to sacrifice their individual 
 advantages to the interest of the community. 
 
 " These are the pillars on which the glorious fabric of our independence 
 and national character must be supported. Liberty is the basis, and whoever 
 would dare to sap the foundation or overturn the structure, under whatever spe- 
 cious pretext he may attempt it, will merit the bitterest execration and the severest 
 punishment which, can be injlirted by his injured country !" 
 
 This will amply compensate you for all ennui which I may 
 have caused you by these letters. You will, from the tenor of this 
 extract, of which I have put some lines in italics, be aware how 
 
169 
 
 clearly the political creation, the present United States of America, 
 was projected or rather cast in the mind of this great master of 
 the political art. This heautiful and dignified address evidently 
 produced the most beneficial effects. The fourth point should be 
 the apostolic rule for all Congress and assemblymen, put into all 
 political platforms, on all party banners, at the head of each issue 
 of a political paper. Dignity, the prominent feature of Washing- 
 ton's character, is the secret of power depending upon public 
 opinion. This secret seems to be lost in Congress and legislatures 
 and our public affairs in general. The political party press has 
 much to answer for it. 
 
 When General Washington wrote those lines the nation was 
 in " a portentous crisis," in his own words, owing to the imperfect 
 organization of the national affairs. The different crises the 
 people of the United States have witnessed since, and which have 
 retarded their steady onward progress so much, originated mostly 
 in defective municipal organization and legislation, especially in 
 regard to the monetary affairs. As by the federal constitution all 
 causes for political national crises have been happily removed ; it 
 is now with the states to stop their tampering with the currency, 
 which mars the splendid picture drawn by Washington of the 
 future of this nation. 
 
 8 
 
170 
 
 LETTER XLIV. 
 
 Defenders of the Country. Popularity. Citizen-soldier. Standing- Ar- 
 my-Soldier. Washington. Frederick. Napoleon. Conquest. 
 Vain-glory. Universal Peace. Dualistic Nature of Man. Farewell 
 Orders to the Armies by Washington. Review of the Past Struggle. 
 Conduct for the Future. 
 
 THOSE who sacrifice their lives for their country, when in 
 danger of war, will always command the esteem of their fellow- 
 citizens, and acquire great popularity, especially if the war be 
 one of defence for the protection of liberty, and required by jus- 
 tice and honor. There is, however, a great difference between a 
 citizen-soldier or general and a hired standing-army-soldier or 
 princely commander. The Americans are so fortunate as to 
 have in Washington a perfect pattern of a citizen-general, while 
 the Europeans are proud of their great Fredericks and Napoleons. 
 It is of the highest importance that a citizen should never in- 
 dulge in ambitious ideas of conquest. No general was ever freer 
 from them, and of the pernicious passion of military vain-glory 
 than Washington. Although a republican government, by itself, 
 is not in need of the support of a standing army, like that of a 
 prince, still, as mankind are organized, no commonwealth can ex- 
 ist, as such, without a strong arm for the common defence. Univer- 
 sal peace is an absolute idea, like that of general virtue, goodness, 
 etc. We, as rational beings, can form such ideas ; but the abso- 
 lute universal perfection, which they pre-suppose when realized, 
 mankind never will attain, because it is against our nature. This 
 is of a dualistic kind, as life and de"ath, wisdom and foolery, good 
 and bad, etc., mixed up in such a manner that we are not able to 
 form an idea of good without the help of its opposite, that is, 
 bad. No one would sigh for eternal peace if he was not sur- 
 rounded by an eternal conflict of antagonistic forces. It is, then, 
 clear that the rights of nations can not be maintained without an 
 adequate extensive establishment for the common defence, as the 
 
WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ORDERS. 171 
 
 federal constitution speaks of the military force, just as the rights 
 of individuals would be entirely insecure without the institution 
 of courts, jails, etc. 
 
 All I desire from you, my sons, in this regard, is to keep the 
 example of a citizen-soldier, as set up by General Washington, 
 before your eyes, when in times that try men's hearts and cour- 
 age you are called to arms for the defence of your country. 
 Read the following extract, from his farewell orders to the ar- 
 mies of the United States, dated Rocky Hill, near Princeton, 
 November 2, 1783. I insert them in my letters because they 
 come from the greatest pattern of a citizen-soldier, and they ob- 
 viously contain sentiments, which have influenced the public men 
 of his time, and especially those who framed the federal consti- 
 tution. He says : 
 
 " Before the commander-in-chief takes his final leave of those he holds 
 most dear, he wishes to indulge himself a few moments, in calling to mind a 
 slight review of the past : he will, then, take the liberty of exploring with 
 his military friends, their future prospects, of advising the general line of 
 conduct which, in his opinion, ought to be pursued ; and he will conclude 
 the address by expressing the obligations he feels himself under for the 
 spirited and able assistance he has experienced from them in the perform- 
 ance of an arduous office. 
 
 " A contemplation of the complete attainment (at a period earlier than 
 could have been expected) of the object for which we contended against so 
 formidable a power, can not but inspire us with astonishment and gratitude. 
 The disadvantageous circumstances, on our part, under which the war was 
 undertaken, can never be forgotten." 
 
 " In order to remove the prejudices which may have taken possession of 
 the minds of any of the good people of the states, it is earnestly recom- 
 mended to all the troops, that with a strong attachment to the Union, they 
 should carry with them into civil society the most conciliating dispositions ; and 
 that they should prove themselves not less virtuous and useful citizens, than 
 they have been persevering and victorious as soldiers. What though there 
 should be some envious individuals who are unwilling to pay the debt the 
 public has contracted, or to yield the tribute due to merit, yet let such unwor- 
 thy treatment produce no invective, or any instance of intemperate conduct; 
 let it be remembered that the unbiased voice of the free citizens of the 
 United States has promised the just reward, and given the merited applause ; 
 let it be known and remembered that the reputation of the federal armies is 
 established beyond the reach of malevolence ; and let a consciousness of 
 their achievements and fame still excite the men who composed them, to 
 honorable actions, under the persuasion that the private virtues of economy, 
 prudence and industry, will not be less amiable in civil life than the more 
 
172 WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ORDERS. 
 
 splendid qualities of valor, perseverance, and enterprise were in the field. 
 And, although the general has so frequently given it as his opinion, in the 
 most public and explicit manner, that unless the principles of the federal govern- 
 ment were properly supported, and the powers of the Union increased, the honour, 
 dignity, and justice of the nation would be lost for ever, yet he can not help repeat- 
 ing, on this occasion, so interesting a sentiment, and leaving it as his last in- 
 junction to every officer and every soldier who may view the subject in the 
 same serious point of light, to add his best endeavors to those of his worthy 
 fellow-citizens, toward effecting these great and valuable purposes, on which 
 our very existence as a nation so materially depends !" 
 
 We learn here again how this eminent man and citizen, and true 
 prototype of a civil and military chief, tried to realize his great 
 idea of a more perfect union of the then liberated colonies. How 
 nobly does he speak to his fellow-soldiers and companions ! He 
 concludes this address with the following touching words : 
 
 " Being now to conclude these his last public orders, to take ultimate leave, 
 in a short time, of the military character, and to bid a final adieu to the ar- 
 mies he has so long had the honor to command, he can only again offer, in 
 their behalf, his recommendations to their grateful country, and his prayers 
 to the God of armies. May ample justice be done them here, and mav the 
 choicest of heaven's favors, both here and hereafter, attend those, who under 
 the divine auspices, have secured innumerable blessings for others. With these 
 wishes and his benediction, the commander-in-chief is about to retire from 
 service. The curtain of separation will soon be drawn, and the military 
 scene to him will be closed for ever v 
 
 Under such a commander, could the final issue of the war be 
 doubtful? It makes one a better man and citizen to read Wash- 
 ington's public documents. They are monuments more lasting 
 than brass. You must keep them before your mind as perfect 
 patterns of just and noble sentiments, that when comparing them 
 with the products of modern politicians in Congress and legisla- 
 tures, you may easily separate the wheat from the chaff, and be 
 guided by them through life. 
 
WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 173 
 
 LETTER XLV. 
 
 Washington elected President. Organization of the General Government. 
 - Retires from the Presidency. His Farewell Address to the People of 
 the United States, Sept. 17, 1796. 
 
 GEN. WASHINGTON was not permitted to enjoy his rural re- 
 tirement long, which, like the ancient Roman republicans, he loved 
 so much. The legislature of Virginia chose him a member of the 
 convention which framed the federal constitution ; he was the pre- 
 siding officer of this most important assemblage, and, by the grate- 
 ful people, elected as their first president, under the constitution 
 which bears his name, and for which he labored so long. He or- 
 ganized the government, was elected for a second term, and this 
 he closed with an address to the nation, universally known as 
 Washington's Farewell Address, and acknowledged by all think- 
 ing men as an eminently clear and true exposition of the common- 
 sense principles of free democratic governments. I have added 
 appropriate heads, and recommend it to your most careful atten- 
 tion. It is the real foundation of our American common law, con- 
 sidering the source from which it comes, of more value than Eng- 
 lish, Roman, and Greek law-maxims, and precedents. I add it 
 entire as follows : 
 
 Declining a Re-election. 
 
 "FRIENDS AND FELLOW CITIZENS The period for a new 
 election of a citizen to administer the executive government of the 
 United States bei.ng not far distant, and the time actually arrived 
 when your thoughts must be employed in designating the person 
 who is to be clothed with that important trust, it appears to me 
 proper, especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression 
 of the public voice, that I should now apprize you of the resolu- 
 tion I have formed, to decline being considered among the num- 
 ber of those out of whom a choice is to be made. 
 Reasons for Declining. 
 
 " I beg you, at the same time, to do me the justice to be assured, 
 
174 WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 
 
 that this resolution has not been taken without a strict regard to 
 all the considerations appertaining to the relation which binds a 
 dutiful citizen to his country ; and that, in withdrawing the tender 
 of service which silence in my situation might imply, I am in- 
 fluenced by no diminution of zeal for your future interest, no de- 
 ficiency of grateful respect for your past kindness ; but am sup- 
 ported by a full conviction that the step is compatible with both. 
 
 State Reasons for serving a Second Time. 
 
 " The acceptance of, and continuance hitherto in, the office to 
 which your suffrages have twice called me, have been a uniform 
 sacrifice of inclination to the opinion of duty, and to a deference 
 for what appeared to be your desire. I constantly hoped that it 
 would have been much earlier in my power, consistently with mo- 
 tives which I was not at liberty to disregard, to return to that re- 
 tirement from which I had been reluctantly drawn. The strength 
 of my inclination to do this, previous to the last election, had even 
 led to the preparation of an address to declare it to you : but ma- 
 ture reflection on the then perplexed and critical posture of our 
 affairs with foreign nations, and the unanimous advice of persons 
 entitled to my confidence, impelled me to abandon the idea. 
 
 The State of the Public Affairs favors his Retirement from Office. 
 
 " I rejoice that the state of your concerns, external as well as in- 
 ternal, no longer renders the pursuit of inclination incompatible 
 with the sentiment of duty or propriety ; and am persuaded, 
 whatever partiality may be retained for my services, that, in the 
 present circumstances of our country, you will not disapprove my 
 determination to retire. 
 
 " The impressions with which I first undertook the arduous 
 trust were explained on the proper occasion. In the discharge 
 of this trust, I will only say, that I have with good intentions con- 
 tributed toward the organization and administration of the gov- 
 ernment, the best exertions of which a very fallible judgment 
 was capable. Not unconscious, in the outset, of the inferiority of 
 my qualifications, experience in my own eyes, perhaps still more 
 in the eyes of others, has strengthened the motives to diffidence 
 of myself : and every day the increasing weight of years admon- 
 ishes me more and more, that the shade of retirement is as neces- 
 sary to me as it will be welcome. Satisfied that if any circum- 
 
WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 175 
 
 stances have given peculiar value to my services, they were tem- 
 porary, I have the consolation to believe, that while choice and 
 prudence invite me to quit the political scene, patriotism does not 
 forbid it. 
 
 Sentiments of Gratitude for Confidence. 
 
 " In looking forward to the moment which is intended to ter- 
 minate the career of my public life, my feelings do not permit me 
 to suspend the deep acknowledgment of that debt of gratitude 
 which I owe to my beloved country, for the many honors it has 
 conferred upon me ; still more for the steadfast confidence with 
 which it has supported me; and for the opportunities I have 
 thence enjoyed of manifesting my inviolable attachment, by ser- 
 vices faithful and persevering, though in usefulness unequal to my 
 zeal. If benefits have resulted to our country from these ser- 
 vices, let it always be remembered to your praise, and as an in- 
 structive example in our annals, that under circumstances in 
 which the passions, agitated in every direction, were liable to 
 mislead amidst appearances, sometimes dubious vicissitudes of 
 fortune often discouraging in situations, in which not unfre- 
 quently, want of success has countenanced the spirit of criticism 
 the constancy of your support was the essential prop of the 
 efforts, and a guaranty of the plans by which they were effected. 
 Profoundly penetrated with this idea, I shall carry it with me to 
 my grave, as a strong incitement to unceasing wishes, that heaven 
 may continue to you the choicest tokens of its beneficence that 
 your union and brotherly affection may be perpetual that the 
 free constitution, which is the work of your hands, may be sacredly 
 maintained that its administration, in every department, may be 
 stamped with wisdom and virtue that, in fine, the happiness of 
 the people of these states, under the auspices of liberty, may be 
 made complete by so careful a preservation, and so prudent a use 
 of this blessing, as will acquire to them the glory of recommend- 
 ing it to the applause, the affection, and the adoption, of every 
 nation which is yet a stranger to it. 
 
 Advice and Warnings of a parting Friend. 
 
 " Here, perhaps, I ought to stop. But a solicitude for your 
 welfare, which can not end but with my life, and the apprehension 
 of danger natural to that solicitude, urge me, on an occasion like 
 
176 WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 
 
 the present, to offer to your solemn contemplation, and to recom- 
 mend to your frequent review, some sentiments which are the 
 result of much reflection, of no inconsiderable observation, and 
 which appear to me all-important to the permanency of your 
 felicity as a people. These will be offered to you with the more 
 freedom, as you can only see in them the disinterested warnings 
 of a parting friend, who can possibly have no personal motive to 
 bias his counsel. Nor can I forget, as an encouragement to it, 
 your indulgent reception of my sentiments on a former and not 
 dissimilar occasion. 
 
 Of American Liberty, and its main Pillar the Union. 
 
 " Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every ligament of 
 your hearts, no recommendation of mine is necessary to fortify or 
 confirm the attachment. 
 
 " The unity of government, which constitutes you one people, 
 is also now dear to you. It is justly so ; for it is a main pillar in 
 the edifice of your real independence the support of your tran- 
 quillity at home, your peace abroad; of your safety, of your 
 prosperity, of that very liberty which you so highly prize. But, 
 as it is easy to foresee, that from different causes, and from dif- 
 ferent quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices employed, 
 to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth ; as this is 
 the point in your political fortress, against which the batteries of 
 internal and external enemies will be most constantly and actively 
 (though often covertly and insiduously) directed, it is of infinite 
 moment that you should properly estimate the immense value of 
 your national Union to your collective and individual happiness ; 
 that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attach- 
 ment to it ; accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it. as of 
 the palladium of your political safety and prosperity; watching 
 for its preservation with jealous anxiety ; discountenancing what- 
 ever may suggest even a suspicion that it can, in any event, be 
 abandoned ; and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of 
 every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the 
 rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the 
 various parts. 
 The Name of American to be sacredly appreciated by Citizens by Birth or Choice, 
 
 " For this you have every inducement of sympathy and interest. 
 
WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 177 
 
 Citizens, by birth or choice, of a common country, that country 
 has a right to concentrate your affections. The name of AMERI- 
 CAN,* which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must 
 always exalt the just pride of patriotism, more than any appella- 
 tion derived from local discriminations. With slight shades of 
 difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits, and polit- 
 ical principles. You have, in a common cause, fought and 
 triumphed together ; the independence and liberty you possess 
 are the work of joint councils, and joint efforts, of common dan- 
 gers, sufferings, and successes. 
 
 Union of Interests. No North, no South, no East, no West, in regard to them. 
 
 " But these considerations, however powerfully they address 
 themselves to your sensibility, are greatly outweighed by those 
 which apply more immediately to your interest. Here every 
 'portion of our country finds the most commanding motives for 
 carefully guarding and preserving the union of the whole. 
 
 " The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with the South, 
 protected by the equal laws of a common government, finds in the 
 productions of the latter great additional resources of maritime 
 and commercial enterprise, and precious materials of manufactur- 
 ing industry. The South, in the same intercourse, benefiting by 
 the agency of the North, sees its agriculture grow, and its com- 
 merce expand. Turning partly into its own channels the seamen 
 of the North, it finds its particular navigation invigorated and 
 while it contributes, in different ways, to nourish and increase the 
 general mass of the national navigation, it looks forward to the 
 protection of a maritime strength, to which itself is unequally 
 adapted. 
 
 " The East, in like intercourse with the West, already finds, 
 and in the progressive improvement of interior communication, 
 by land and water, will more and more find a valuable vent for 
 the commodities which it brings from Abroad, or manufactures at 
 home. The West derives from the East supplies requisite to its 
 growth and comfort ; and what is, perhaps, of still greater conse- 
 quence, it must of necessity owe the secure enjoyment of the indis- 
 pensable outlets, for its own productions, to the weight, influence, 
 
 * For Washington's sake this name should never have been degraded to 
 a party cognomen. 
 
 8* 
 
178 WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 
 
 and the future maritime strength of the Atlantic side of the Union, 
 directed by an indissoluble community of interest as one nation. 
 Any other tenure by which the West can hold this essential ad- 
 vantage, whether derived from its own separate strength, or from 
 an apostate and unnatural connection with any foreign power, 
 must be intrinsically precarious. 
 
 In Union, Security from External Danger and Internal Commotions, without re- 
 quiring a large Army. 
 
 " While then every part of our country thus feels an immediate 
 and particular interest in union, all the parts combined can not fail 
 to find in the united mass of means and efforts, greater strength, 
 greater resource, proportionably greater security, from external 
 danger a less frequent interruption of their peace by foreign 
 nations and, what is of inestimable value, they must derive, 
 from union, an exemption from those broils and wars between 
 themselves, which so frequently afflict neighboring countries not 
 tied together by the same government, which their own rivalships 
 alone would be sufficient to produce, but which opposite foreign 
 alliances, attachments, and intrigues, would stimulate and embitter. 
 Hence, likewise, they will avoid the necessity of those overgrown 
 military establishments, which, under any form of government, 
 are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as par- 
 ticularly hostile to republican liberty. In this sense it is, that 
 your Union ought to be considered as a main prop of your lib- 
 erty, and that the love of the one ought to endear to you the 
 preservation of the other. 
 
 The Government of the Union will be Efficient, if the ivhole is properly organ- 
 ized in States, Counties, Towns, (Cities, Villages). 
 
 *' These considerations speak a persuasive language to every 
 reflecting and virtuous mind, and exhibit the continuance of the 
 Union as a primary object of patriotic desire. Is there a doubt 
 whether a common government can embrace so large a sphere ? 
 Let experience solve it. To listen to mere speculation in such a 
 case were criminal. We are authorized to hope that a proper or- 
 ganization of the whole, with the auxiliary agency of governments 
 for the respective sub-divisions, will afford a happy issue to the 
 experiment. It is well worth a fair and full experiment. With 
 such powerful and obvious motives to union, affecting all parts of 
 
179 
 
 our country, while experience shall not have demonstrated its im- 
 practicability, there will always be reason to distrust the patriot- 
 ism of those, who, in any quarter, may endeavor to weaken its 
 bands. 
 
 Geographical Parties and their Danger. No Missouri Lines. 
 
 "In contemplating the causes which may disturb our Union, it 
 occurs, as a matter of serious concern, that any ground should have 
 been furnished for characterizing parties by geographical discrim- 
 inations, Northern and Southern, Atlantic and Western whence 
 designing men may endeavor to excite a belief that there is a 
 real difference of local interest and view. One of the expedients 
 of party to acquire influence within particular districts, is to mis- 
 represent the opinions and aims of other districts. You can not 
 shield yourselves too much against the jealousies and heart-burn- 
 ings which spring from these misrepresentations ; they tend to 
 render alien to each other those who ought to be bound together 
 by fraternal affection. The inhabitants of our western country 
 have lately had a useful lesson on this head : they have seen, in 
 the negotiation, by the executive, and in the unanimous ratifica- 
 tion, by the senate, of the treaty with Spain, and in the universal 
 satisfaction at that event throughout the United States, a decisive 
 proof how unfounded were the suspicions propagated among them, 
 of a policy in the general government and in the Atlantic states 
 unfriendly to their interests in regard to the Mississippi : they 
 have been witnesses to the formation of two treaties, that with 
 Great Britain, and that with Spain, which secure to them every- 
 thing they could desire, in respect to our foreign relations, toward 
 confirming their prosperity. Will it not be their wisdom to rely 
 for the preservation of these advantages on the Union, by which 
 they were procured ? Will they not, henceforth, be deaf to those 
 advisers, if such there are, who would sever them from their breth- 
 ren, and connect them with aliens ? 
 
 A Common National Government Preferable to State Alliances. 
 
 " To the efficacy and permanency of your Union, a government 
 for the whole is indispensable. No alliances, however strict, be- 
 tween the parts, can be an adequate substitute ; they must inevi- 
 tably experience the infractions and interruptions which alliances, 
 in all times, have experienced. Sensible of this momentous truth, 
 
180 WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 
 
 you have improved upon your first essay, by the adoption of a 
 constitution of government, better calculated than your former, 
 for an intimate union, and for the efficacious management of your 
 common concerns. This government, the offspring of our own 
 choice, uninfluenced and unawed, adopted upon full investigation 
 and mature deliberation, completely free in its principles, in the 
 distribution of its powers, uniting security with energy, and con- 
 taining within itself a provision for its own amendment, has a just 
 claim to your confidence and your support. Respect for its au- 
 thority, compliance with its laws, acquiescence in its measures, 
 are duties enjoined by the fundamental maxims of true liberty. 
 The basis of our political system is the right of the people to 
 make and to alter their constitutions of government. But the 
 constitution which at any time exists, until changed by an explicit 
 and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon 
 all. The very idea of the power and the right of the people to 
 establish government, pre-supposes the duty of every individual 
 to obey the established government. 
 
 Factions Opposing the Government to be Discountenanced. 
 ." All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations 
 and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real 
 design to direct, control, counteract, or awe, the regular delibera- 
 tion and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive of 
 this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency. They serve to 
 organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force, to 
 put in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a 
 party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the 
 community ; and according to the alternate triumphs of different 
 parties to make the public administration the mirror of the ill- 
 concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the 
 organ of consistent and wholesome plans, digested by common 
 councils and modified by mutual interests. 
 
 Warnings against Factions Subverting Constitutions, Franchises, and the 
 Eights of the People. 
 
 " However combinations or associations of the above description 
 may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely, in the 
 course of time and things, to become potent engines by which 
 cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to sub- 
 vert the power of the people, and to usurp for themselves the 
 
WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 181 
 
 reigns of government, destroying afterward the very engines 
 which had lifted them to unjust dominion. 
 
 Warnings against Innovations made in the Constitution by unprincipled Men. 
 
 " Toward the preservation of your government and the perma- 
 nency of your present happy state, it is requisite not only that 
 you steadily discountenance irregular oppositions to its acknowl- 
 edged authority, but also that you resist with care the spirit of 
 innovation upon its principles, however specious the pretexts. 
 
 " One method of assault may be, to effect in the forms of the 
 constitution alterations which will impair the energy of the system, 
 and thus undermine what can not be directly overthrown. In all 
 the changes to which you may be invited, remember that time and 
 habit are at least as necessary to fix the true character of govern- 
 ments as of other human institutions; that experience is the surest 
 standard by which to test the real tendency of the existing con- 
 stitutions of a country ; that facility in changes upon the credit of 
 mere hypothesis and opinion exposes to perpetual change, from 
 the endless variety of hypothesis and opinion ; and remember, 
 especially, that for the efficient management of your common 
 interests in a country so extensive as ours, a government of as 
 much vigor as is consistent with the perfect security of liberty is 
 indispensable. Liberty itself will find in such a government, with 
 powers properly distributed and adjusted, its surest guardian. It 
 is, indeed, little else than a name, where the government is too 
 feeble to withstand the enterprises of faction, to confine each 
 member of the society within the limits prescribed by the laws, 
 and to maintain all in the secure and tranquil enjoyment of the 
 rights of person and property. 
 
 Warnings against Parties ; their Violence ; Spirit of Revenge leading to 
 Despotism. 
 
 " I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the 
 state, with particular reference to the founding of them upon geo- 
 graphical discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehen- 
 sive view and warn you in the most solemn manner against the 
 baneful effects of a spirit of party generally. 
 
 " This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, 
 having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It 
 exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less 
 
182 WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 
 
 
 
 stifled, controlled, or oppressed ; but in those, of the popular form 
 it is seen in its greatest rankness and is truly their worst enemy. 
 
 " The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharp- 
 ened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissension, which 
 in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid 
 enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length 
 to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and 
 miseries which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek 
 security and repose in the absolute power of an individual ; and 
 sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or 
 more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the 
 purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of the public liberty. 
 
 Warnings against Parties who Open the Door to Foreign Influence and 
 Corruption. 
 
 " Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind, (which 
 nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common 
 and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make 
 it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain 
 it. It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble 
 the public administration. It agitates the community with ill- 
 founded jealousies and false alarms ; kindles the animosity of one 
 part against another ; foments occasionally riot and insurrection. 
 It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which find a 
 facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of 
 party passion. Thus the policy and will of one country are sub- 
 jected to the policy and will of another. 
 
 Parties (especially Standing), not to be Encouraged. 
 
 " There is an opinion that parties in free countries are useful 
 checks upon the administration of the government, and serve to 
 keep alive the spirit of liberty. This, within certain limits, is 
 probably true, and in governments of a monarchical cast patriot- 
 ism may look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit 
 of party. But in those of the popular character, in governments 
 purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. From their 
 natural tendency it is certain 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 
 
183 
 
 uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead 
 of warming, it should consume. 
 
 Caution in regard to Schemes of Politicians to avoid Encroachments, Consolida- 
 tions, Centralization, Despotism. 
 
 " It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free 
 country should inspire caution in those intrusted with its admin- 
 istration to confine themselves within their respective constitu- 
 tional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one 
 department to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroach- 
 ment 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 predominate in the human heart, is sufficient to 
 satisfy us of the truth of this position. The necessity of recipro- 
 cal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and dis- 
 tributing 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. 
 
 Warnings against Precedents of Usurpation of Power. 
 
 " 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 prece- 
 dent must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any par- 
 tial or transient benefit which the use can at any time yield. 
 Religion, Virtue, and Morality, the great Pillars of Human Happiness, and the 
 necessary Springs of Popular Government. 
 
 " Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political pros- 
 perity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain 
 would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor 
 to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest 
 props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, 
 equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. 
 
 * Such depositories are towns, counties, states, and in them the legislative, 
 executive, and judiciary. 
 
184 WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 
 
 A volume could not trace all their connections with private and 
 public felicity. Let it be simply asked, where is the security for 
 property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obliga- 
 tion desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in 
 courts of justice ? And let us with caution indulge the supposi- 
 tion, that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever 
 may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds 
 of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to ex- 
 pect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious 
 principle. 
 
 " It is substantially true, that virtue and morality are necessary 
 springs of popular government. The rule indeed extends, with 
 more or less force, to every species of free government. Who, 
 that is a sincere friend to it, can look with indifference upon at- 
 tempts to shake the foundation of the fabric ? 
 
 Institutions for the general Diffusion of Knowledge. 
 
 " Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions 
 for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the 
 structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essen- 
 tial that public opinion should be enlightened. 
 
 Preservation of Public Credit; shunning of Public Debts and the Inconvenience 
 
 of Taxes. 
 
 " As a very important source of strength and security, cherish 
 public credit. One method of preserving it is to use it as sparing- ' 
 ly as possible ; avoiding occasions of expense, by cultivating peace ; 
 but remembering also, that timely disbursements to prepare for 
 danger, frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel 
 it : avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shun- 
 ning occasions of expense, but, by vigorous exertions in time of 
 peace, to discharge the debts which unavoidable wars may have 
 occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden 
 which we ourselves ought to bear. The executions of these max- 
 ims belongs to your representatives ; but it is necessary that pub- 
 lic opinion should co-operate. To facilitate to them the perform- 
 ance of their duty, it is essential that you should practically bear 
 in mind, that toward the payment of debts there must be revenue 
 that to have revenue there must be taxes that no taxes can 
 be devised which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant 
 
WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 185 
 
 that the intrinsic embarrassment, inseparable from the selection 
 of the proper objects (which is always a choice of difficulties), 
 ought to be a decisive motive for a candid construction of the con- 
 duct of the government in making it, and for a spirit of acquies- 
 cence in the measures for obtaining revenue which the public ex- 
 igencies may at any time dictate. 
 
 Good Faith and Justice toicard all, as an Example for all Nations, 
 "Observe good faith and justice toward all nations cultivate 
 peace and harmony with all. Religion and morality enjoin this 
 conduct ; and can .it be, that good policy does not equally enjoin 
 it ? It will be worthy of a free, enlightened, and (at no distant 
 period) a great nation, to give to mankind the magnanimous and 
 too novel example of a people always guided by an exalted justice 
 and benevolence. Who can doubt, that in the course of time and 
 things, the fruits of such a plan would richly repay any temporary 
 advantages which might be lost by a steady adherence to it ? Can 
 it be, that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of 
 a nation with its virtues? The experiment, at least, is recom- 
 mended by every sentiment which ennobles human nature. Alas, 
 it is rendered impossible by its vices ? 
 
 Avoiding National Antipathies or Passionate Attachments. 
 
 11 In the execution of a plan, nothing is more essential than that 
 permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations, and 
 passionate attachments for others, should be excluded, and that 
 in place of them, just and amicable feelings toward all should be 
 cultivated. The nation which indulges toward another an 
 habitual hatred or an habitual fondness, is in some degree a 
 slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of 
 which 4s sufficient to lead it astray from its duty or its interest. 
 Antipathy in one nation against another, disposes each more 
 readily to offer insult and injury, to lay hold of slight causes of 
 umbrage, and to be haughty and intractable, when accidental or 
 trifling occasions of dispute occur. 
 
 " Hence frequent collisions, obstinate, envenomed, and bloody 
 contests. The nation, prompted by ill-will and resentment, some- 
 times impels to war the government, contrary to the best calcula- 
 tions of policy. The government sometimes participates in the na- 
 tional propensity, and adopts, through passion, what reason would 
 
186 
 
 reject. At other times it makes the animosity of the nation sub- 
 servient to projects of hostility, instigated by pride, ambition, 
 arid other sinister and pernicious motives. The peace often, 
 sometimes perhaps, the liberty of nations has been the victim. 
 
 " So likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for another 
 produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, 
 facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest, in cases 
 where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the en- 
 mities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the 
 quarrels and the wars of the latter, without adequate inducements or 
 justification. It leads also to concessions to the favorite nation, of 
 privileges denied to others, which is apt doubly to injure the nation 
 making the concessions, by unnecessarily parting with what ought 
 to have been retained, and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a dis- 
 position to retaliate, in the parties from whom equal privileges are 
 withheld ; and it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citi- 
 zens (who devote themselves to the favorite nation) facility to 
 betray or sacrifice the interests of their country, without odium, 
 sometimes even with popularity ; gilding, with the appearances of 
 a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference for pub- 
 lic opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or foolish 
 compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation. 
 
 "As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such at- 
 tachments are particularly alarming to the truly enlightened and 
 independent patriot. How many opportunities do they afford to 
 tamper with domestic factions, to practise the arts of seduction, 
 to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the public councils. 
 Such an attachment of a small or weak nation, toward a great 
 and powerful one, dooms the former to be the satellite of the 
 other. 
 
 Warnings against Foreign Diplomatic Wiles and Influence. 
 
 " Against the insiduous wiles of foreign influence (I conjure 
 you to believe me, fellow-citizens), the jealousy of a free people 
 ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove 
 that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republi- 
 can government. But that jealousy, to be useful, must be im- 
 partial, else it becomes the instrument of the very influence to 
 be avoided, instead of a defence against it. Excessive partiality 
 
1ST 
 
 for one foreign nation, and excessive dislike of another, cause 
 those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and 
 serve to veil, and even second the arts of influence on the 
 other. Real patriots, who may resist the intrigues of the favo- 
 rite, are liable to become suspected and odious, while its tools and 
 dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people to sur- 
 render their interests. 
 
 Warnings against Political or Diplomatic Connections with Foreign Govern- 
 ments, and European Interests in General. 
 
 " The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, 
 is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as 
 little political connection as possible. So far as we have already 
 formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good 
 faith. Here let us stop. 
 
 " Europe has a set of primary interests, which to us have none, 
 or a very remote relation. Hence she must be engaged in fre- 
 quent controversies, the causes of which are essentially foreign to 
 our concerns. Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to im- 
 plicate ourselves by artificial ties in the ordinary vicissitudes of 
 her politics, or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her 
 friendships or enmities. 
 
 Assuming an Independent National Attitude. 
 
 " Our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to 
 pursue a different course. If we remain one people, under an 
 efficient government, the period is not far off when we may defy 
 material injury from external annoyance ; when we may take such 
 an attitude as will cause the neutrality we may at any time re- 
 solve upon, to be scrupulously respected ; when belligerent na- 
 tions, under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, 
 will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation ; when we may 
 choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice, shall 
 counsel. 
 
 " Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation ? Why 
 quit our own to stand on foreign ground ? Why, by interweaving 
 our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace 
 and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, in- 
 terest, humor, or caprice ? 
 
188 WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 
 
 No Permanent Alliances. Honesty the best Policy. 
 
 " 'Tis our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with 
 any portion of the foreign world ; so far, I mean, as we are now 
 at liberty to do it ; for let me not be understood as capable of 
 patronizing infidelity to existing engagements. I hold the maxim 
 no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is 
 always the best policy. I repeat it, therefore, let those engage- 
 ments be observed in their genuine sense. But, in my opinion, 
 it is unnecessary, and would be unwise to extend them. 
 
 " Taking care always to keep ourselves, by suitable establish- 
 ments, on a respectable defensive posture, we may safely trust to 
 temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies. 
 
 Liberal, not enforced Commercial Intercourse. Warnings against Courting 
 National Favors. 
 
 " Harmony and liberal intercourse with all nations, are recom- 
 mended by policy, humanity, and interest. But even our com- 
 mercial policy should hold an equal and impartial hand, neither 
 seeking nor granting exclusive favors or preferences, consulting 
 the natural course of things, diffusing and diversifying, by gentle 
 means, the streams of commerce, but forcing nothing ; establish- 
 ing, with powers so disposed in order to give to trade a stable 
 course, to define the rights of our merchants, and to enable the 
 government to support them conventional rules of intercourse, 
 the best that present circumstances and mutual opinion will per- 
 mit, but temporary, and liable from time to time to be abandoned 
 or varied, as experience and circumstances shall dictate ; con- 
 stantly keeping in view that 'tis folly in one nation to look for 
 disinterested favors from another, that it must pay with a portion 
 of its independence whatever it may accept under that character ; 
 that by such acceptance it may place itself in the condition of 
 having given equivalents for nominal favors, and yet of being 
 reproached with ingratitude for not giving more. There can be 
 no greater error than to expect or calculate upon real favors 
 from nation to nation. 'Tis an illusion which experience must 
 cure, which a just pride ought to discard. 
 
 Hope that these Counsels will Moderate the Fury of Party Spirit. 
 
 " In offering to you, my countrymen, those counsels of an old 
 and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will makf the strong 
 
WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 189 
 
 
 
 and lasting impression I could wish ; that they will control the 
 usual current of the passions, or prevent our nation from running 
 the course, which has hitherto marked the destiny of nations. 
 But if I may even flatter myself that they may be productive of 
 some partial benefit, some occasional good ; that they may now 
 and then recur to moderate the fury of party-spirit, to warn 
 against the mischiefs of foreign intrigues, to guard against the 
 impostures of pretended patriotism ; this hope will be a full re- 
 compense for the solicitude for your welfare, by which they have 
 been dictated. 
 
 " How far, in the discharge of my official duties, I have been 
 guided by the principles which have been delineated, the public 
 records and other evidences of my conduct must witness to you 
 and to the world. To myself, the assurance of my conscience is, 
 that I have, at least, believed myself to be guided by them. 
 
 Neutral Position in the then Existing War in Europe. 
 
 " In relation to the still subsisting war in Europe, my proclama- 
 tion of the 22d of April, 1793, is the index to my plan. Sanc- 
 tioned by your approving voice, and by that of your representa- 
 tives in both houses of Congress, the spirit of that measure has 
 continually governed me, uninfluenced by any attempts to deter or 
 divert me from it. 
 
 " After deliberate examination, with the aid of the best lights I 
 could obtain, I was well satisfied that our country, under all the 
 circumstances of the case, had a right to take, and was bound in 
 duty and interest to take, a neutral position. Raring taken it, I 
 determined, as far as should depend upon me, to maintain it with 
 moderation, perseverance, and firmness. 
 
 " The considerations which respect the right to hold this con- 
 duct, it is not necessary on this occasion to detail. I will only 
 observe, that according to my understanding of the matter, that 
 right, so far from being denied by any of the belligerent powers, 
 has been virtually admitted by all. 
 
 " The duty of holding a neutral conduct may be inferred, with- 
 out anything more, from the obligation which justice and hu- 
 manity impose on every nation, in cases in which it is free to 
 act, to maintain inviolate the relation of peace and amity toward 
 other nations. 
 
190 WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 
 
 " The inducements of interest for observing that conduct will 
 be best referred to your own reflections and experience. With 
 me, a predominent motive has been, to endeavor to gain time to 
 our country to settle and mature its yet recent institutions, and to 
 progress without interruption to that degree of strength and con- 
 sistency which is necessary to give it, humanly speaking, the com- 
 mand of its own fortunes. 
 
 Anticipation of the Sweet Enjoyment of Living in Retirement under a Free 
 Government and Good Laws. 
 
 " Though in reviewing the incidents of my administration, I 
 am unconscious of intentional error, I am, nevertheless, too sen- 
 sible of my defects not to think it probable that I may have com- 
 mitted many errors. Whatever they may be, I fervently beseech 
 the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may 
 tend. I shall also carry with me the hope, that my country will 
 never cease to view them with indulgence ; and that, after forty- 
 five years of my life, dedicated to its service, with an upright 
 zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, 
 as myself must soon be to the mansions of rest. 
 
 " Relying on its kindness in this as in other things, and actuated 
 by that fervent love toward it, which is so natural to a man who 
 views in it the native soil of himself and his progenitors for sev- 
 eral generations, I anticipate with pleasing expectation, that retreat, 
 in which I promise myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet en- 
 joyment of partaking, in the midst of my fellow-citizens, the be- 
 nign influence of good laws under a free government the ever 
 favorite object of my heart, and the happy reward, as I trust, of 
 our mutual cares, labors, and dangers. 
 
 "G. WASHINGTON." 
 
 No monument of marble or brass can represent this honest and 
 just man better than his public documents, the federal constitution 
 included. It is true, there were brave and good men united 
 with him in the great work of bringing order out of the 
 chaos of the young confederacy; still without the clear mind, 
 and firm hand, of this great citizen, the result would have been 
 different. 
 
 Try then, my dear children, for your part, to be faithful to 
 
THE PRINCE. 191 
 
 those maxims in public life, which he followed and has embodied 
 in his public documents. 
 
 I have tried to explain them in their bearing upon the current 
 business, and hope I have not labored in vain. 
 
 LETTER XLVI. 
 
 The Prince by Macchiavelli. Parallel between the Farewell Address and 
 the Prince. Prof. Lieber. Anti-Macchiavelli by Frederick the Great. 
 The Barbarians in Italy. Difference between the American and Euro- 
 pean State-systems. Legitimacy. Congress of Vienna. 
 
 GENERALLY speaking there are only two kinds of govern- 
 ments, republics* and monarchies. The preceding letters have 
 been devoted to the first class, and the forms and principles 
 adopted in the United States. 
 
 To interrupt the monotony of my republican discussions, I em- 
 body in this letter an abridgement of the celebrated treatise, 
 entitled " The Prince," written by the great " Secretario Floren- 
 tine," Niccolo Macchiavelli, and dedicated to the young duke 
 Lorenzo de Medici, whom he wished to become the deliverer of 
 Italy from the barbarians, (Spaniards, Germans, and French.) 
 (Mazzini attempts to carry out this plan in our days.) Macchia- 
 velli wrote in the beginning of the sixteenth century ; he died in 
 1527. I have made use of a London translation of 1694, the 
 only one I had access to. This book contains much historical re- 
 search, and naturally bears,, as General Washington's farewell 
 address does, the signs of the times. The contrast between both 
 
 * Prof. Lieber, in his book on Civil Liberty and Self-government, speaks 
 of an instituted self-government, defining it thus : " Instituted self-govern- 
 ment is that popular government which consists in a great organism of insti- 
 tutions, or a union of harmonizing systems of laws instinct with self-govern- 
 ment. It, is of a co-operative or homocratic character, and, in this respect, 
 the opposite to centralism. It is articulated liberty, inter-guarantying, self- 
 evolving, and generic, the political embodiment of self-reliance and mutual 
 acknowledgment of self-rule the political realization of equality. It is the 
 only self-government which makes it possible to be at once seT/'-government 
 and self '-government.'' This means nothing but republic. 
 
192 THE PRINCE. 
 
 is striking. Macchiavelli's only hope for Italy was a hereditary 
 prince at the head of a consolidated monarchy. Washington 
 fought, worked, and wrote for the overthrow of a hereditary 
 prince, and the establishment of a federal republic under one elec- 
 tive executive. The first treats more of subjects, and their pru- 
 dent management ; the latter of political business, and its good 
 organization, distribution, and performance. The first advises 
 his prince how to conquer a republic by ruining it, and keep 
 down the influential men ; the latter maintains that liberty ought 
 to be the main pillar of the Union. The first suggests that the 
 prince must manage the public affairs, so that in all places, times 
 and occasions, the people may have need of his administration and 
 regimen, or that he has his hands in every thing ; Washington 
 sees, in the proper organization and distribution of the public 
 business, the best guaranty for the safety of both the people and 
 the government. According to the first, a prince is to have no 
 other thought or study but war ; while Washington believes that 
 by our Union we will avoid the necessity of overgrown military 
 establishments. Frederick the Great, who wrote the anti-Mac- 
 chiavelli, called that nobleman only a gentleman who served in 
 the army. 
 
 Macchiavelli thinks a prince may not shun vices and infamy, 
 if he only can preserve thus his dominion ; Washington's guide 
 was the maxim : honesty is the best policy. 
 
 A prince ought not to keep his parole when it is to his preju- 
 dice, so says Macchiavelli ; let all engagements be observed in 
 their genuine sense, and justice, and good faith towards all nations, 
 is the maxim of Washington. 
 
 Macchiavelli holds that it is necessary for a prince to have all 
 the good qualities in reality, and to play the hypocrite well ; 
 Washington believes that honesty, virtue, and morality, are neces- 
 sary springs of popular government. 
 
 Macchiavelli's prince ought to be terrible at home to his sub- 
 jects, and abroad to his equals ; Washington's ideal is a life under 
 the benign influence of good laws under a free government. 
 
 A prince, according to Macchiavelli, must recommend himself 
 to the world by great enterprises and valor (of course expensive 
 things), and monopolize knowledge; Washington is for peace, 
 economy, diffusion of knowledge. 
 
THE PRINCE. 193 
 
 Macchiavelli advises his prince never to league with another 
 more powerful than himself; Washington is against all entangling 
 alliances. 
 
 The first warns the prince of the snares of woman ; the latter 
 of the wiles of party and faction. 
 
 But you may better extend yourselves this parallel at pleasure. 
 The sum is, that Macchiavelli advocates rank king-craft, and 
 Washington undefiled democracy. There are a great many secret 
 and open friends of monarchism in the United States, who attrib- 
 ute the present defective working of our political institutions to 
 intrinsic faults of the republican system. A mere superficial com- 
 parison of this treatise, which is still the political bible of absolute 
 and constitutional monarchs, with Washington's address, should 
 undeceive them. Of course, if we manage our republics as 
 princely centralizers, hypocrites, and placemen do their states, they 
 will fare like those in Italy and elsewhere. 
 
 Peruse, then, " The Prince " carefully. Its author was one of 
 the best statesmen of the remarkable age in which he lived. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM THE PRINCE OF MACCHIAVELLI. 
 
 1 . The several Sorts of Government, and after what Manner they are obtained. 
 
 " There never was, nor is at this day, any government in the world by which 
 one man has rule and dominion over another, but it is either a commonwealth 
 [republic] or a monarchy." (The state of Maryland, however, began with a 
 universal government.) 
 
 2. Of Hereditary Principalities. 
 
 " Hereditary states are preserved with less difficulty than the new, because 
 it is sufficient not to transgress the examples of the predecessors, and next to 
 comply and frame themselves to the accidents that occur; so that if the 
 prince be a person of sufficient activity, he will be sure to keep himself on 
 the throne." 
 
 3. Of Mixed Principalities. 
 
 " Countries that have rebelled, and are conquered the second time, are re- 
 covered with more difficulty. Whoever acquires anything, and desires to 
 preserve it, is obliged to have a care of two things : more particularly one is, 
 that the family of the former prince be extinguished ; the other, that no new 
 laws or taxes be imposed. But where conquest is made in a country differ- 
 ing in language, customs, and laws, there is the great difficulty that good 
 fortune and great industry are requisite to keep it ; and one of the best and 
 most efficacious expedients to do it would be for the usurper to live there him- 
 self, as the Grand Turk has done in Greece. Men are either to be flattered 
 and indulged, or utterly destroyed ; because for small offences they do usu- 
 ally revenge themselves, but for great ones they can not. 
 9 
 
194 THE PRINCE. 
 
 " The conqueror must not omit any pains to gain the inferior nobles in a 
 new province, for they will readily and unanimously fall into one mass with 
 the state that is conquered. He must further take care that they grow not 
 too strong, nor be intrusted with too much authority ; and then he can easily 
 with his own forces, and their assistance, keep down the great lords in the 
 vicinity. 
 
 "It is no more than natural for princes to desire to extend their dominion, 
 and, when they attempt nothing but what they are able to achieve, they are 
 applauded ; in the reverse case they are condemned, and indeed not unwor- 
 thily. 
 
 " Whoever is the occasion of another's advancement, is the cause of his 
 own diminution." 
 
 4. Consummation. 
 
 "An empire like the Turkish, which is governed by the prince and his 
 officers [servants], is harder to be subdued than one with a nobility; but, 
 when once conquered, more easy to be kept." 
 
 5. How Subdued Principalities are to be governed. 
 
 " A commonwealth or republic is to be ruined, in order to keep it as a 
 conquered province ; for people, upon all occasions, will endeavor to recover 
 their old privileges." [Hindostan.] 
 
 6. Of Principalities acquired by one's own proper Conduct and Arms. 
 " That conqueror who has committed least to fortune, has continued the 
 longest." 
 
 7. Of New Principalities. 
 
 " Conquerors or innovators who stand upon their own feet and arms, suc- 
 ceed better than those who make more use of their rhetoric." 
 
 8. Of Wicked Usurpers. 
 
 " "Whoever usurps the government of any state, is to execute and put in 
 practice at once all the cruelties which he thinks material, that he may have 
 no occasion to renew them often ; but that by discontinuance he may mollify 
 the people, and by his good deeds bring them over to his side. Such deeds 
 should be distilled by drops, that the relish may be the greater. 
 
 "A prince is so to behave himself toward his subjects, that neither good 
 nor bad fortune should be able to alter him ; for, being once assaulted with 
 adversity, you have no time to do mischief; and the good which you do, 
 does you no good, being looked upon as forced, and so no thanks are due 
 for it." 
 
 9. Of Civil Principalities. 
 
 " In all cities [states], the meaner and the better sort of citizens are of dif- 
 ferent humors ; and hence it follows that the common people are not willing 
 to be commanded artd oppressed by the great ones, and the great ones [aris- 
 tocrats] are not satisfied without it. 
 
 " He who arrives at the sovereignty by the assistance of the aristocrats, 
 preserves it with more difficulty than he who is advanced by the people ; be- 
 cause he has about him many of his old associates, who, thinking themselves 
 
THE PRINCE. 195 
 
 his equals, are not to be directed and managed as he would have them. 
 Grandees [privileged aristocracy] are hardly to be satisfied without injury to 
 others ; while the designs of the people are more reasonable, and they en- 
 deavor only to defend and secure themselves. Where the people are adverse, 
 the prince can never be safe, by reason of their numbers. 
 
 " These kinds of governments are most tottering and uncertain when the 
 prince strains of a sudden, and passes, as at one leap, from a civil to an abso- 
 lute power. 
 
 "A prince who is provident and wise ought to carry himself so that in all 
 places, times, and occasions, the people may have need of his administration 
 and regimen, and ever after they shall be faithful and true." 
 
 10. How the Strength of all Principalities is to be computed. 
 
 " Those princes are capable of ruling [independently] who are able, either 
 by the numbers of their men or the greatness of their wealth, to raise a com- 
 plete army, and bid defiance to any that shall invade them ; and those depend 
 upon others who of themselves dare not meet their enemy in the field, but 
 are forced to keep within their bounds, and defend them as well as they can, 
 especially by fortifying the capital town. 
 
 " The nature of man is such, that he takes as much pleasure in having 
 obliged another as in being obliged himself." 
 
 11. Of Ecclesiastical Principalities. 
 
 " The ecclesiastical princes are the only persons who have lands and do 
 not defend them subjects, and do not govern them; which render those 
 principalities the happiest and most secure." 
 
 12. Of Military Discipline. 
 
 " The principal foundations of all states are good laws and good arms. 
 There can not be good laws where there are not good arms [to execute tho 
 laws]." 
 
 13. Of Different Soldiers. 
 
 " The mercenary and auxiliary soldiers are unprofitable and dangerous. 
 A martial commonwealth, that stands upon its own legs, and maintains 
 itself by its own prowess, is not easily usurped, and falls not so readily under 
 the obedience of one of its own citizens, as where all the forces are foreign." 
 
 14. Of the Military Duty of a Prince. 
 
 " A prince is to have no other design, nor thought, nor feeling, but war, 
 and the arts and discipline of it. In time of peace, he should employ his 
 thoughts more studiously therein by bodily exercise, sports, hunting, hawk- 
 ing, and mental occupations, informing himself of the coasts, situation and 
 elevation of mountains, valleys, history, etc., and keep a great pattern before 
 his mind." 
 
 15. Of such Things as render them especially ivorthy of Blame or Applause. 
 
 "A prince should be so well instructed as to know how to avoid the scan- 
 dal of vices. He is not to concern himself, if run under the infamy of vices, 
 without which his dominion was not to be preserved ; for, if we consider 
 
196 THE PRINCE. 
 
 things impartially, we shall find that some things in appearance are virtuous, 
 and yet, if pursued, would bring certain destruction ; and others, on the con- 
 trary, that are seemingly bad, which, if followed by a prince, procure his 
 peace and security." 
 
 16. Of Liberality and Parsimony. 
 
 " A prince should be liberal ; but liberality, so used as not to render him 
 formidable, does but injure him. To keep up the name of liberality among 
 men, it is necessary that no kind of luxury be omitted, which would make 
 him poor and despised. He ought not to dread the imputation of being cov- 
 etous, for in time he shall be esteemed liberal, when it is discovered that by 
 his parsimony he has increased his revenue to a condition of defending him- 
 self against invasion, and to make enterprises upon other people." 
 
 17. Of Cruelty and Clemency. 
 
 " A prince is to desire to be esteemed merciful rather than cruel, but is not 
 to regard the scandal of being cruel, if thereby he keeps his subjects in their 
 allegiance and united ; seeing that by a few examples of justice you may be 
 more merciful than they who, by a universal exercise of pity, permit several 
 disorders to follow, which occasion rapine and murder. 
 
 " The question, whether it be better to be beloved than feared, or feared 
 than beloved, is answered. Both would be convenient ; but, because that it 
 is hard to attain, it is better and more secure, if one must be wanting, to be 
 feared than beloved : for, in general, men are ungrateful, inconstant, hypo- 
 critical, fearful of danger, and covetous of gain. To be feared and not hated, 
 is compatible enough. But, before all things, a prince is to have a care of 
 trenching on their patrimony [by high taxes or confiscation] ; for men sooner 
 forget the death of their father than the loss of their property. 
 
 "As these do love at their own discretion, but fear not their princes, a 
 wise prince is obliged to lay his foundation upon that which is in his own 
 power, not that which depends on other people, but with great caution, that 
 he does not make himself odious." 
 
 18. How far a Prince is responsible for his Promise. 
 
 " There being two ways of contending, by law [or reason] and by force 
 the first proper to men, the second to beasts it belongs to a prince to un- 
 derstand both when to make use of the rational and when of the brutal way, 
 in which latter regard he ought to imitate the lion and the fox. A prince, 
 therefore, that is wise and prudent, can not, nor ought not, to keep his pa- 
 role, when the keeping of it is to his prejudice, and the causes for which he 
 promised are removed. Were men all good, this doctrine were not to be 
 taught ; but because they are wicked, and not likely to be punctual with you, 
 you are not obliged to observe any such strictness with them. 
 
 " Nor was there ever a prince that wanted lawful pretence to justify his 
 breach of promise. He that best personates the fox, has the best success. 
 Nevertheless, it is of great consequence to disguise your inclination, and to 
 play the hypocrite well ; and men are so simple in their temper, arid so sub- 
 missive to their present necessities, that he who is neat and cleanly in his 
 
THE PRINCE. 197 
 
 collusions shall never want people to practise them upon. [As Talleyrand, 
 Metternich, Palmerston, and all the genus diplomat and politician.] 
 
 " A prince is not obliged to have all the good qualities in reality, but it is 
 necessary to have them in appearance ; nay, having them actually, and em- 
 ploying them upon ail occasions, they are extremely prejudicial. It is hon- 
 orable to seem mild, and merciful, and courteous, and religious, and sincere ; 
 and, indeed, to be so, provided your mind be so rectified and prepared that 
 you can act quite contrary upon occasions. And this must be premised, 
 that a prince, especially if but lately come to the throne, can not observe all 
 those things exactly which make men to be esteemed virtuous being often- 
 times necessitated, for the preservation of his state, to do things inhuman, 
 uncharitable, and irreligious ; and therefore it is important that his mind be 
 at his command, and flexible to all the puffs and variations of his fortune 
 not forbearing to be good while it is in his choice, but knowing how to be 
 evil when there is a necessity. People are always taken with the appearance 
 and event of things, and the greatest part of the world consists of the peo- 
 ple ; those few who are wise taking place when the multitude has nothing 
 else to rely upon. There is a prince at this time [king of France] who has 
 nothing in his mouth but fidelity and peace ; and yet had he exercised either 
 the one or the other, they had robbed him before this of both his power and 
 reputation." [Napoleon III. declared that "the empire is peace," while he 
 is constantly engaged in war, and organizing France as a conquered country 
 under military rule.] 
 
 19. Moral Policy of Princes. 
 
 " Princes ought to be cautious of becoming either odious or contemptible. 
 As often as they do so, they play their part very well, and will meet with no 
 danger or inconvenience from the rest of their views. Nothing makes a 
 prince so insufferably odious as usurping his subjects' estates and debauch- 
 ing their wives ; for while the generality of the people live quietly upon their 
 estates, and unprejudiced in their honor, they live peaceably enough, and 
 all contention is only with the pride and ambition of some few persons who 
 are easily restrained. He has to strive that in all his actions there may ap 
 pear magnanimity, courage, gravity, and fortitude, and to avoid being ac- 
 counted effeminate, light, inconstant, pusillanimous, and irresolute. He 
 ought to be terrible in two places at home to his subjects, and abroad to 
 his equals. One of the best remedies a prince can use against conspiracy is 
 to keep himself from being hated or despised by the multitude ; for nobody 
 plots but he expects by the death of the prince to gratify the people ; and 
 the thought of offending them will deter him from any such enterprise, be- 
 cause in conspiracies the difficulties are infinite. Many conjurations have 
 been on foot, but few have succeeded, because no man can conspire alone. 
 On the side of the conspirators there is nothing but fear, and jealousy, and 
 apprehension, and punishment ; but on the prince's side there is the majesty 
 of the government, the laws, the organized state. When the people are dis- 
 satisfied, and have taken a prejudice against the prince, there is nothing, nor 
 any person, which he ought not to fear. It must be his constant care not to 
 reduce the nobility to despair, nor the people to discontent. Princes should 
 
198 THE PRINCE. 
 
 leave things of injustice and envy to the ministry and execution of others, 
 but acts of favor and grace are to be performed by themselves. 
 
 " It can not be avoided but princes must fall under the hatred of somebody ; 
 they ought diligently to contend that it be not of the multitude. If that be not 
 to be obtained, they should not incur the odium of such as are most potent 
 among them." 
 
 20. On Fortifications. 
 
 " A wise prince was never known to disarm his subjects, for, by arming 
 them and inuring them to warlike exercise, those arms are his own ; those 
 who are suspicious become faithful, they who are faithful are confirmed, and 
 all the subjects become of his party. To disarm the people is to disgust them. 
 It arguea weakness in the prince to encourage dissensions, or parties, or fac- 
 tions, in order to rule people perhaps newly conquered. Those are to be 
 mollified by degrees. 
 
 "Princes, and particularly those who are not of long standing, have often 
 found more fidelity and assistance from those whom they suspected at the 
 beginning of their reign, than from them who at first were their greatest con- 
 fidents. 
 
 " A prince, newly advanced, ought to consider well what it was that dis- 
 posed some to befriend him ; if it be not affection to him, but pique and ani- 
 mosity to the old government, it will cost much trouble and difficulty to keep 
 them his friends, because it will be impossible to satisfy them. 
 
 " Fortresses are useful or not useful, according to the difference of time. 
 That prince who is more afraid of his subjects than neighbors, is to suffer 
 them to stand. The fortresses will not protect him if the people have him in 
 detestation, because they shall no sooner take arms but strangers will fall in 
 and sustain them." 
 
 21. How a Prince gains Reputation. 
 
 " Nothing recommends a prince so highly to the world as great enterprises, 
 and noble expressions of his own valor and conduct, either, in war, to al- 
 low the people no leisure to be at quiet or to continue any thing against 
 him, or by giving some rare example of his own administration at home, 
 when there is occasion for somebody to perform anything extraordinary in 
 the civil government, whether it be good or bad, and to find out such a way 
 either to reward or punish him as may make him much talked of in the world. 
 A prince is to have a care, in all his actions, to behave himself so as to give 
 himself the reputation of being excellent, as well as great. He is likewise 
 much esteemed when he shows himself a sincere friend or a generous enemy 
 that is, when, without any hesitation, he declares himself in favor of one 
 against another, which, as it is more frank and princely, so it is more profit- 
 able than to stand neuter. A conqueror will never understand them to be 
 his friends who would not assist him in his distress ; and he that is worsted 
 will not receive you, because you neglected to run his fortune with your 
 arms in your hands. 
 
 " A prince is never to league himself with another more powerful than him- 
 self in an offensive war, because in that case, if he overcomes, you remain at 
 his mercy ; and princes ought to be as cautious as possible of falling under 
 
THE PRINCE. 199 
 
 the discretion of other people. If they who contend be of such condition, 
 that they have no occasion to fear let what will overcome, you are in pru- 
 dence to decline yourself the sooner, because, by assisting the one, you con- 
 tribute to the ruin of the other, whom, if your confederate had been wise, he 
 ought rather to have preserved, so that the overcoming remains wholly at 
 your discretion, and by your assistance he must of necessity overcome. 
 
 "No prince or government, however, should imagine that, in such cases, 
 any certain counsel can be taken, because the affairs of this world are so or- 
 dered, that in avoiding one mischief we fall commonly into another. A 
 man's wisdom is most conspicuous where he is able to distinguish between 
 dangers, and make choice of the least. 
 
 " A prince, to show himself a virtuoso and honorer of all that is excellent in 
 any art whatever, is to encourage and assure his subjects that they may live 
 quietly in peace, and exercise themselves in their several vocations, whether 
 merchandise, agriculture, or any other employment whatever, to the end that 
 one may not forbear improving or embellishing his estate for fear it should 
 be taken from him, nor another advancing his trade in apprehension of taxes ; 
 but the prince is rather to excite them by propositions of reward and immuni- 
 ties to all such as shall any way amplify his territory or powers. He is 
 obliged, likewise, at convenient times in the year, to entertain the people 
 by feastings, and plays, and spectacles of recreation ; and, because all cities 
 are divided into companies or wards, he ought to have respect to those so- 
 cieties, be merry with them sometimes, and give them some instance of his 
 humanity and magnificence, but always retaining the majesty of his degree, 
 which is never to be debased in any case whatever." 
 
 22. Of the Secretaries of Princes. 
 
 "The election of his ministers is of no small importance to a prince, for 
 the first judgment that is made of him, or his parts, is from the persons he 
 has about him. Commonly the first error he commits is in the election of his 
 servants. 
 
 " In the capacities and parts of men there are three sorts of degrees ; one 
 man understands of himself, another understands what is explained, and a 
 third understands neither of himself nor by any explanation. The first is 
 excellent, the second commendable, the third altogether unprofitable. 
 
 " But the business is how a prince may understand his minister, and the 
 rule for that is infallible. When you observe your officer more careful of 
 himself than of you, and all his aetions and designs pointing at his own in- 
 terest and advantage, that man will never be a good minister, nor ought you 
 ever to repose any confidence in him." 
 
 23. How Flatterers are to be avoided. 
 
 " Men and princes are generally so fond of their own actions, and so 
 easily mistaken in them, that it is not without difficulty they defend them- 
 selves against flatterers, of which kind of cattle all histories are full ; and he 
 that goes about to defend himself, runs a great hazard of being despised. 
 
 " There is no other remedy against flatterers, than to let everybody un- 
 derstand you are not disobliged by telling the truth. Yet if you suffer every 
 
200 THE PRINCE. 
 
 body to tell it, you injure yourself, and lessen your reverence ; wherefore a 
 wise prince ought to go a third way, and select out of his state certain dis- 
 creet men, to whom only he is to commit that liberty of speaking truth, and 
 that of such things as he demands, and nothing else ! But, then, he is to 
 inquire of everything, hear their opinions, and resolve afterward as he 
 pleases, and behave himself toward them in such sort, that every one may 
 find with how much the more freedom he speaks, with so much the more 
 kindness he is accepted, that besides them he will hearken to nobody ; that 
 he considers well before he resolves; and that his resolutions once taken are 
 never to be altered. A prince, therefore, is always to consult, but at his 
 own, not other people's pleasure, and rather deter people from giring their 
 advice undemanded. 
 
 " A prince who has no wisdom of his own can never be well advised, un- 
 less by accident he commits all to the government and administration of some 
 honest, discreet man. If a prince, who has no great judgment of his own, 
 consults with more than one, their counsels will never agree, nor he have 
 ever the cunning to unite them; every man will advise according to his own 
 interest or caprice. These will always prove bad, unless by necessity they 
 are compelled to be good. It is clear that good counsels proceed rather 
 from the wisdom of the prince, than the prince's wisdom from the goodness 
 of his counsels. 
 
 24. How Princes lose their Dominions. 
 
 " No defences are good, certain, and lasting, which proceed not from the 
 prince's own courage and virtue, after he has embellished and fortified his 
 principality with good laws, good force, good friends, and good example. 
 
 25. Of Fortune. 
 
 " It is an old opinion, that the affairs of the world are so governed by 
 fortune and divine Providence, that man can not by his wisdom correct them. 
 This may be true of one half of our actions, but fortune leaves the other 
 half, or little less, to be governed by ourselves. It shows its power where 
 there is no predisposed virtue to resist it. A prince who relies wholly upon 
 fortune, being subject to her variations, must of necessity be ruined. That 
 prince will be successful whose manner of proceeding concerts with the 
 times. In things leading to the end of their designs, as riches and honor, 
 we see men have various methods of proceeding, which may possibly all be 
 successful; while two persons, equally cautious, one of them prospers and 
 the other miscarries, so that two persons by different operations do attain the 
 same end, while two others steer the same course, and one of them succeeds 
 and the other is ruined. One, however good, if the face of affairs and the 
 times change, and he changes not with them, will be certainly ruined. There 
 is no man to be found so wise, that knows how to accommodate or frame 
 himself to all vicissitudes and varieties. 
 
 " While the obstinacy of princes consists with the motion of fortune, it is 
 possible they may be happy; but when once they disagree, the poor prince 
 comes certainly to the ground. It is better to be hot and audacious, than 
 cautious and apprehensive, for fortune is a woman, and must be Hectored to 
 
THE PRINCE. 201 
 
 keep her under; and 'tis visible every day she suffers herself to be managed 
 by those who are brisk and audacious, rather than by those who are cold and 
 phlegmatic in their motions, and therefore (like a woman) she is always a 
 friend to those who are young; because being less circumspect, they attack 
 her with more security and boldness." 
 
 An exhortation to deliver Italy from the barbarians concludes 
 the work. 
 
 These " barbarians " rule still in the best parts of Italy. You 
 will now be able, with the help of the general history of Europe 
 (Asia) and America, to answer easily the question : exactly what 
 difference there is between the European and our own " state- 
 system ;" viz., that the first depends upon the principle of self- 
 government applied to public business, the latter upon legitimacy. 
 After the downfall of Napoleon I.'s empire, all the princes of 
 Europe, Turkey included, met in congress at Vienna, and restored 
 the European political system upon the principle of legitimacy, as 
 they called it, adding the gracious promise of constitutional forms 
 of monarchy. They expressly declared the Napoleonides out- 
 side the pale of legitimacy ; but one of them has again ascended 
 the throne of France ! You see how little faith sensible men 
 should place in such a system, where so much depends upon 
 sheer accident, and the management of the public affairs is made 
 the property-right of a few " legitimate " .families, viz. such as 
 believe and pretend to be created by God, to possess and rule the 
 people. 
 
 Our system is the product of common sense and plain business 
 necessity, the European that of property-rights in men ; ours is 
 made only for the rule of the unruly, the European for the gov- 
 ernment of men and land ; ours is stable for all times to come, 
 provided we keep the several parts of it in strict order with refer- 
 ence to population, state, size, and business ; the stability of the 
 European depends upon the -frail thread of the life of one or a 
 few persons, and similar accidental circumstances beyond the con- 
 trol of men ; ours, finally, depends upon prospective law, the Euro- 
 pean upon present customs, without the least guaranty for the fu- 
 ture. What pity that men abuse also the best things ! What 
 would be the United States if their excellent system had been 
 carried out well ? 
 
 But there is still time enough to do it. We are free yet. Hope 
 
 then for the best. In this hope let us now part. 
 
 9* 
 
PART SECOND. 
 
 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 Object of a State Constitution. Introduction to the Constitution of the 
 State of New York. Preamble. Union-Slighting. 
 
 MY intention at first was to limit my political conversation with 
 you to the federal constitution, under which we all live, in what- 
 ever state we reside ; even when travelling in foreign countries, and 
 sailing on distant seas we depend upon its. protection. But after 
 I bade you adieu, and had indulged in a sober, second thought 
 always a good one I concluded to place one of our state consti- 
 tutions in parallel with it, to show better their coordinate working 
 in society, and whether it be harmonious or not. It is the same 
 artistical idea which induced me to place " The Prince " in parallel 
 with Washington. 
 
 I have for this purpose selected the constitution of the 
 state of New York, because this is, as the most populous, a 
 kind of leading state, and it is proposed to take the sense of the 
 people at the ensuing election (November, 1858) whether it shall 
 be amended or not. For the latter reason I have also added a 
 few remarks on the state constitution of Maryland. I should, 
 perhaps, have altered the form and addressed these letters to the 
 voters of these states ; but as " I speak by permission, and not of 
 commandment, according to my proper gift of God," I will con- 
 tinue in the familiar manner, hoping also to avoid thereby the sus- 
 
204 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 picion of an intention to bias the vote, although I sincerely wish 
 that in my humble efforts I may be able to excite an intense 
 interest on the subject. 
 
 The obvious aim of a state constitution, in our Union, must be 
 to prescribe the forms of a government for the realization of 
 justice and order in regard to the municipal political affairs. 
 Accordingly it should be framed, first, from a desire not to 
 interfere with the business province of the federal constitution, 
 as this has been carefully planned from the view not to interfere 
 with the scope of the state constitutions ; and secondly, not to 
 meddle with the free social business of which I have spoken in 
 the first part. To this may be added, that in our Union, and free 
 unsubject society, a state is not exactly required for the governing 
 of persons, but only for the management of certain public affairs ; 
 because in such society is the real ruler of persons the principle 
 of self-government, which requires every one to control himself 
 well in personal and social regard. This being the most difficult 
 task men although endowed with reason for this very purpose 
 have to perform, the state institution is calculated in single in- 
 stances to force them into a proper self-control, in order to pre- 
 serve justice and prevent injury and anarchy. Without this force 
 a state constitution is nothing to speak of. 
 
 If this is well understood, it is not so very difficult to compre- 
 hend the real object of a state constitution, especially after the 
 framers of the federal constitution have set up such a master-piece 
 of an organic law for the management of the national affairs. 
 
 A political system of this frame, and good execution, should, if 
 this sublinarian world is not a failure withal, impress upon the 
 people living under it a noble character ; for as the maternal edu- 
 cation moulds the character of an individual, so form the political 
 institutions that of nations. This moral influence of our political 
 system upon our nations and mankind was the beacon-light of hope 
 for those who struggled for years for the deliverance of a proud 
 prince, in order to be free, or the masters of their own destiny. 
 Government can only promote liberty by keeping the lawless and 
 dishonest at bay with the help of an effective judiciary. 
 
 Let us, then, examine with diligence the constitution of the 
 state of New York, to ascertain how far it answers to this 
 purpose : 
 
PREAMBLE. 205 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 
 
 " We, the people of the state of New York, grateful to Almighty God 
 for our freedom, in order to secure its blessings, do establish this consti- 
 tution." 
 
 If you will compare this introduction with the preamble of the 
 federal constitution, you will, perhaps, after duly honoring the 
 pious sentiment it expresses, notice that it is vague, and not dis- 
 tinctly pointing out the real object of an American state constitu- 
 tion. To secure the blessings of freedom or absence of subjection, 
 there was not exactly a state constitution required after we got the 
 present federal constitution ; because the Union alone can do that, 
 that is, protect us from subjection abroad or at home, and thus 
 alone the independence or blessings of freedom of the people in 
 the states are really and effectively secured. The remaining 
 object of a state constitution, therefore, can only be the political 
 protection of our persons, property, and homes ; and this can not 
 be done, as I just remarked, by anything else but a good munici- 
 pal government, providing justice, which comes home to all, the 
 poor and the rich, the young and old. 
 
 But the negative side of this little preamble, or that which is 
 missing in it, is of more consequence. This constitution was 
 written in 1846, of course a considerable time after the enact- 
 ment of the federal constitution. Without giving more import- 
 ance to this great compact than is right, I think it would have 
 been but proper, fair, and business-like, to mention in this pream- 
 ble, that the state in question is one of the United States of Amer- 
 ica. In the manner this constitution is treating the best and 
 greatest confederation ever made by men, it seems Jo be but a 
 trifling concern, hardly worth while to be mentioned at all. I 
 think that such a curial or official style is. neither right nor pru- 
 dent. To be a member of th?is confederation must be our greatest 
 pride, and appear in bold relief upon the escutcheon of every 
 state, and in distinct words in the preamble of every constitu- 
 tion. This Union is our strength, our greatness. The states 
 must acknowledge it before the world, for it is their own work. 
 This may be done in their constitutions, by something like the fol- 
 lowing words : " We, the people of the state of , one of the 
 
 United States of America, under the constitution of September 7, 
 1787, bounded as follows: ,for the purpose of establishing 
 
206 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 justice and order, and promoting the general welfare, do ordain," 
 etc. This would not be at all an empty phraseology, because by 
 such a preface the political position, relation, and character of the 
 state, and its government, would be at once clear, the guaranty 
 of the constitution by the powerful confederation pointed out, the 
 realization of justice and order made the main purpose of the 
 organic law and state itself; further, all visionary schemes and ex- 
 periments barred on the outset, and in the course of time wholly 
 excluded from its province. I expressly say in the course of 
 time, because the present bad practice can not be reformed at 
 once, even by the most perfect constitution. Still, we have to 
 begin the reform. 
 
 Of these very important points this constitution leaves the 
 reader, and citizens, and the world in darkness. It simply fore- 
 shadows that the framers did not start from a distinct principle, 
 like those of the federal constitution. It will not be my fault if 
 I have to point out this difference often. I am sorry for it, be- 
 cause I do not much approve of the criticizing of laws and con- 
 stitutions, if they are tolerably good. But truth will prevail, 
 whatever my opinion may be about this organic law. 
 
 LETTE R II. 
 
 Bill of Rights. Peers. Jury. Disagreeing. Acquittals. Liberty of 
 Conscience and Worship. Habeas Corpus. Injunctions. Bail. 
 Grand Jury. Protection of Private Property. Pauperism. Char- 
 ity. 
 
 WE come now to a subject of which I wrote a few lines in my 
 letters on the federal constitution. 
 
 ARTICLE I. 
 Bill of Rights. 
 
 " 1 . No member of this state shall be disfranchized, or deprived of any of 
 the rights or privileges secured to any citizen thereof, unless by the law of 
 the land, or the judgment of his peers." 
 
 A bill of rights is a declaration of certain conditions under 
 
BILL OF RIGHTS. 207 
 
 which people wish to be governed. When the English people or 
 rathfer the aristocracy, unmindful of 1 Samuel, chap, viii., choose 
 foreign princes as their kings, they drew up a list of conditions, or 
 rights, or privileges, which they demanded to be respected by the 
 foreign rulers. The thing, therefore, is of a peculiar monarchical 
 origin, and very well for people who make foreign princes their 
 hereditary rulers, but of no use in our republics, provided, that 
 our constitutions distinctly describe the sphere and powers of the 
 officials (an easy task withal), and for which purpose they are, in- 
 deed, written down. There is no bill of rights in the federal con- 
 stitution. Where the object of setting up a state institution or 
 government (legislature, judiciary, executive) is the realization of 
 justice, no man ever will be disfranchized, and if this can not be 
 helped by a constitution, as was the case in the celebrated metropol- 
 itan police affair, what difference does it make, whether a person, or 
 city, or county, is disfranchized by law or a judgment of peers ? 
 
 The proper sense of the phrase, "or the judgment of his 
 peers," is not clear in America, although I can easily perceive its 
 bearing in Great Britain, whose laws are made for a society com- 
 posed of privileged classes. If there is a duke under judgment, 
 he has probably the privilege to be judged by dukes ; a prelate 
 may insist to be judged by peers, viz., prelates ; and so on with 
 princes of blood, earls, barons, marquises, counts, freeholders, and 
 tenants, &c., &c. The state of New York, being a republic, 
 does, of course, not recognise any monarchical classification of its 
 citizens ; they are before the law equal. If the word peer refers 
 to this state of equality and not, perhaps, to political parties, then 
 the phrase would mean, that we shall be judged by our equals. 
 But this would be self-evident and no privilege, and, therefore, 
 superfluous in a bill of rights. 
 
 So we may presume that it has reference to the jury, of which 
 the following clause treats. But in regard to the right of a citi- 
 zen to be judged by a jury of his equals, special laws have made 
 great inroads upon the bill of rights, by exempting all clergymen, 
 lawyers, teachers, doctors, firemen, militiamen, and those who have 
 formed an opinion on the case under trial, from the jury service, 
 depriving thus all those just-mentioned members of society of the 
 privilege to be judged by their peers. My purpose is to throw the 
 fullest light upon my subject, neither dimmed by the cobweb cur- 
 
208 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 tains of law-cant nor by rusty blinds of feudal legislation of bygone 
 times. What is right is a product of common sense and reason, 
 enlightened by culture, expressed by law. Our state constitutions 
 should not be a rehash of unpractical obsolete phrases. How fault- 
 less in this regard is our federal constitution ! 
 
 " 2. The trial by jury, in all cases in which it has been heretofore used, 
 shall remain inviolate for ever. But a jury trial may be waived by the par- 
 ties in all civil cases in the manner to be prescribed by law." 
 
 This clause appears not in its proper place, because the jury is 
 a part of the judiciary, and should be provided for under this head. 
 The words "for ever" are exceptionable. We are mortals; our 
 mind follows the clock of time. If the next generation should dis- 
 like the jury system, which at present works badly enough, and 
 dispense with it, it would require an alteration of the constitution. 
 This is, as you know, merely a general organizing law, put into 
 operation by special acts. Society is changing and progressing ; 
 constitutions, therefore, should be made so that, .in substance, they 
 work in consonance with the time. Justice is always the same ; 
 but the ways and means to realize it are variable, and, therefore, 
 subject to special laws. 
 
 I improve this opportunity to add a few remarks on this branch 
 of the judiciary, which, if well organized, may have still a great in- 
 fluence upon good order in our society ; which, however, if destined 
 to be a source of income for mere loungers about the court-houses, 
 deserves to be abolished at once. 
 
 )urs is a government of majorities. In all collegiate bodies, in 
 all legislatures, in all boards, in all elections, however important, 
 also in that most decisive event, the ratification of the federal con- 
 stitution, the law of majority is, or has been, recognised as im- 
 perative ; but the English jury, which is but a judicial board, 
 makes an exception from this rule. Their verdicts require una- 
 nimity. The federal constitution, I say again, upon which depended 
 the fate of this nation, went into operation by a majority vote of 
 the thirteen states, while a jury verdict upon a single, perhaps, 
 a very trifling case, shall require unanimity of twelve jurors ! 
 The anomaly I speak of is but a caprice, and one of the curiosities 
 of which the English code of procedure, to which this episode re- 
 fers, abounds. I point out this curiosity here, in order that some 
 one of our legislatures may abolish it. 
 
JURORS DISAGREE. 209 
 
 The majority principle works very well in juries on the conti- 
 nent of Europe. To admit, further, that a judicial board can aban- 
 don a case because they do not agree, is tantamount to anarchy 
 and revolution, because a court disables thus the state institution, 
 which, in the main, depends upon its action. Without a judiciary 
 there is no state. We allow our officials, jurors included, too much 
 latitude. I would rather see the whole jury abolished than in a 
 single instance dismissed because they could not agree. There is 
 no better proof of its defective organization, or rather uselessness, 
 than this fact. The sworn duty of the jury is to give a verdict, as 
 that of a court is to give a sentence. What would the public say 
 of a judge who could not agree with himself about a sentence ! 
 
 As long as the before-mentioned personal exceptions from 
 jury service remains on the statute books, and those who are 
 able to form an opinion on a case under trial may be challenged 
 and rejected, the trial by jury will be offensive to the instinct of 
 justice, and from time to time regulated by Lynch law and 
 vigilance committees, in spite of the constitutional provisions 
 about the eternity of the jury to the contrary. 
 
 If a jury acquits a criminal whose guilt is matter of evidence 
 alas, cases of frequent occurrence the verdict must be by 
 the agency of a special tribunal, or the governor or the grand 
 jury set aside, and the perfidious jurors at once persecuted for 
 perjury, because such a verdict is legal perjury, and, indeed, 
 treason nothing else. The autocracy of jury verdicts must 
 cease when their authors use their power to shield criminality, 
 the very evil which to check and eradicate is one of the main 
 objects of the state institution. The home source of the Eng- 
 lish laws is a dismal swamp of immorality. The profligate per- 
 sonal character of almost all English monarchs, the peculiarly 
 corrupt manner of the composition of the parliament, the no- 
 torious sunken morality of the aristocracy and leading men, 
 must necessarily have exercised for centuries a sinister influence 
 upon the laws and the masses. Unprincipled and reckless men 
 never will make good laws, neither in Great Britain nor else- 
 where. 
 
 " 3. The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and wor- 
 ship, without discrimination or preference, shall for ever be allowed in this 
 state to all mankind ; and no person shall be rendered incompetent to be a 
 
210 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 witness on account of his opinion on matters of religious belief; but the 
 liberty of conscience hereby secured shall not be so construed as to excuse 
 acts of licentiousness, or justify practices inconsistent with the peace of this 
 state." 
 
 I do not think it is necessary to say a word in one of our 
 constitutions about religion, worshipping, speaking, and printing, 
 as little as about teaching, curing diseases, making shoes, etc., 
 because a real free state never interferes with honest industry, 
 never can have anything to do with such private affairs, except 
 they are practised or managed in such a manner that they vio- 
 late rights and give rise to complaints, when the judiciary will 
 be called upon to look into the matter. 
 
 " 4. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, 
 unless when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require 
 its suspension." 
 
 I have spoken of this so-called privilege in the first part. 
 
 A general proviso, forming at the same time a part of the 
 American common law, that no person shall be arrested unless 
 guilty of disobedience when summoned, or of a criminal act 
 (felony) and suspect of flight from justice, would now answer 
 better for the real protection against abuse of power than this 
 privilege ; because in spite of it, there are constantly persons ar- 
 rested and set free on bail who should never be molested in this 
 manner. 
 
 I refer here only to the injuncture-procedure against the 
 mayor of the city of New York, in the metropolitan police-law 
 controversy, who, in opposing as mayor, this law, became neither 
 a felon nor " suspect" to fly from justice, but was notwithstanding 
 arrested. Secondly, I mention an arrest of the mayor of Brook- 
 lyn because some one felt offended by his official acts. For what 
 use is this rigor ? 
 
 " 5. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed ; 
 nor shall cruel and unusual punishments be inflicted, nor shall witnesses be 
 unreasonably detained." 
 
 General phrases of this kind are useless ; a witness should 
 never be detained, but instantaneously examined and dismissed. 
 
 It should be common law with us, that no person can be 
 forced to bear testimony except before his regular court, to 
 
BAIL. GRAND JURY. 211 
 
 whom, if not the court of litigation or trial, the case, with ques- 
 tions from both parties, may be sent for this purpose. This is 
 the judicial practice, to my knowledge, on the continent of Eu- 
 rope. It works well, is expeditious, and just and humane, while 
 the English custom deserves to be called savage. 
 
 "6. No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous 
 crime (except in cases of impeachment, and cases of the militia when in 
 actual service, and the land and naval forces in time of war, or which this 
 state may keep with the consent of Congress in time of peace, and in cases of 
 petit larceny, under the regulation of the legislature), unless on presentment 
 or indictment of a grand jury ; and in any trial in any court whatever, the 
 party accused shall be allowed to appear and defend in person and with 
 counsel, as in civil actions. No person shall be subject to be twice put in 
 jeopardy for the same offence ; nor shall he be compelled in any criminal 
 case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of his life, liberty, or 
 property without due process of law ; nor shall private property be taken 
 for public use without just-compensation." 
 
 The grand jury is also a part of the judicial machinery, at 
 present considered by many of doubtful utility. Its delibera- 
 tions ought to be secret, while in all cases of suspected violent 
 death the coroner's inquest, preceding the action of the grand 
 jury, is public! If a person has been acquitted for want of 
 proof, and later clear proof of guilt is found, there is no good 
 reason why the accused should not be tried again. Justice 
 toward society requires, under such circumstances, a new inves- 
 tigation, just as against a condemnatory sentence a new trial is 
 allowed. That an accused may defend himself by counsel is 
 well enough ; but it can not be denied that the admittance of 
 counsel from the beginning of the trial is more calculated to 
 defeat the ends of justice than to promote them. The pro- 
 hibition of confessing a crime or making a clean breast, or as the 
 phrase is, to be witness against one self, is immoral. To deprive 
 one by law of his property, even for the benefit of beggars or 
 paupers, would no doubt be unjust ; but it is daily done. All 
 political charity, and all taxes raised by force of law for the sup- 
 port of the poor, are so many violations of this maxim. There- 
 fore no good government should draw charity into its sphere. 
 It seems to be done in Great Britain, on account of a general 
 popular custom, expressed by a cant phrase which you may often 
 hear, viz., " the town or county owes me a living." I attribute 
 
212 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 to it much of our public pauperism. According to the pauper 
 statistics of Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1856-'57 there were relieved, at 
 public expense, by law, 2,295 families, viz., 479 American, 2,519 
 Irish, 122 English, 15 Canadian, 31 Scotch, 2 Nova Scotians, 
 1 Welsh, 71 Germans, 183 French, showing an immense pre- 
 ponderance of the English for beggarism, probably because the 
 city owes them a living, a phrase unknown to Germans. There 
 is, if not a larger, an equal proportion of English (Irish in- 
 cluded) and German inhabitants in this city. What good have 
 those English beggars done for this city to oblige her to give them 
 a living ? I stop for an answer. 
 
 Charity, when practised by the state, will be made use of for 
 political capital, and demoralize the indigent, evils easily avoided 
 by prudent private charity. In Europe, many political con- 
 trivances, as high taxes, standing armies, frequent wars, interfer- 
 ence with industry by laws, produces poverty, which, afterward, 
 political charity tries to mitigate. Our system of government, 
 which leaves every man entirely at liberty to procure by industry 
 his daily bread, is diametrically opposed to such a monarchical 
 policy. 
 
 We should, therefore, never have imitated the same. It is a 
 false pride to boast of our poor-house palaces. They are giving 
 the lie to the principles of self-government. Both our beautiful 
 rich country and excellent system of governing should have pre- 
 vented the growth of such foreign social parasitical plants. The 
 Friends give the right example in this regard. The ladies 
 should look into this political charity business. 
 
 Of the municipal, land, and naval forces of this state, more 
 anon. 
 
FREE SPEECH. 213 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 Compensation for Private Property when taken for Public Use. Eoads. 
 Liberty of the Press. Libels. Assembling and Petition Eight. 
 Divorce. Lottery. Escheats. Feudal Tenures. Allodiums. Leases 
 of Land. Fines. Quarter - Sales. Indian Land - Sales. Common 
 Law. Colonial Law. Royal British Grants. Property Laws. 
 American Common Law. Rights of Self-Go vernment. Prohibition 
 of Foreign Laws. The Church Poor-Laws. State Scholars. 
 
 You will soon perceive that we are in the beehive of society. 
 
 " 7. When private property shall be taken for any public use, the com- 
 pensation to be made therefor, when such compensation is not made by the 
 state, shall be ascertained by a jury, or by not less than three commissioners 
 appointed by a court of record, as shall be prescribed by law. Private roads 
 may be opened in the manner to be prescribed by law ; but in every case the 
 necessity of the road, and the amount of all damage to be sustained by the 
 opening thereof, shall be first determined by a jury of freeholders, and such 
 amount, together with the expenses of the proceeding, shall be paid by the 
 person to be benefitted." 
 
 The proviso that no private property shall be taken for public use 
 without compensation, is perfectly right. Specialities belong to spe- 
 cial laws. Even no property of towns or counties shall be taken 
 for the use of the state without compensation. The metropolitan 
 state police-law encroached upon the property-right of towns or 
 cities, by claiming their telegraphs, etc., for state purposes, and 
 was, therefore, unconstitutional. 
 
 " 8. Every citizen may freely speak, write, and publish his sentiments on 
 all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right ; and no law shall 
 be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech or of the press. In all 
 criminal prosecutions or indictments for libel, the truth may be given in evi- 
 dence to the jury; and if it shall appear to the jury that the matter charged 
 as libellous is true, and was published with good motives and for justifiable 
 ends, the party shall be acquitted, and the jury shall have the right to deter- 
 mine the law and the fact." 
 
 I refer to my remarks at clause third. It has been a disputed 
 question among jurists, since time immemorial, whether a man who 
 calls his neighbor a thief may be justified by proving that he has 
 
214 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 stolen once, which, of course, constitutes a thief. The constitution 
 says such chiding or calumniating may be justifiable ; but I think 
 the matter belongs to a statute-book. People in a few years may 
 think differently about the calling of bad names, and therefore 
 consider such acts discourteous and not justifiable. Manners and 
 morals alter from time to time, and laws bearing upon them also. 
 Constitutions must not bar such alterations. The common sense 
 expressed by an honest court and jury is the best judge in such 
 things. In this clause is an express acknowledgment of the 
 liberty of the press. I like in this regard that which is called in 
 Great Britain a constitution much better for being silent on this 
 subject. There is no free society without liberty of industry, that 
 of printing, speaking, preaching, etc.^ included. Better preserve 
 this most precious liberty without saying a word about it in the 
 constitution. Public opinion is the surest guaranty of such things, 
 while printed words may be quibbled away by unreasonable in- 
 terpretation. The heart of the people, from which emanates 
 public opinion, no court, no lawyer can quibble away. 
 
 " 9. The assent of two thirds of the members elected to each branch of the 
 legislature shall be requisite to every bill appropriating the public moneys or 
 property for local or private purposes." 
 
 This clause betrays a want of principle and a wrong view of 
 state institutions. Their resources are, presumptively, taxes 
 raised for the support of this institution, and not for that of pri- 
 vate persons under whatever pretexts. To prevent this by a two- 
 third vote or a unanimous vote of the legislature, is realizing 
 injustice and an abuse of state power. Canals, concerts, theatres, 
 agriculture, tailoring, book-writing, and a thousand other private 
 affairs, however good and desirable, must not induce a good legis- 
 lature to spend a cent of the state revenues for such things. 
 Free or unsubject society, if not impoverished by high taxes, is 
 well able to take care of all private affairs ; but no society as it 
 is at present can go along without a state institution providing 
 justice. 
 
 " 10. No law shall be passed abridging the rights of tbe people peaceably 
 to assemble, and to petition the government, or any department thereof; nor 
 shall any divorce be granted otherwise than by due judicial proceedings ; nor 
 shall any lottery hereafter be authorized, or any sale of lottery tickets 
 allowed, within the state." 
 
ESCHEAT LAWS. 215 
 
 A democratic society can not exist without the right of assem- 
 bling. Our government officials are our agents ; nothing else. 
 That such officials ever should stop peaceable meetings, or refuse 
 to accept petitions, or dare to forbid petitioning, is in our times 
 incredible. Such negative provisoes, quite frequently occurring 
 in the federal constitution, are not subjects for a real bill of rights. 
 
 Lotteries are games, and may be allowed to-day and forbidden 
 to-morrow, without mentioning them in a constitution. Divorces 
 are litigious cases belonging by themselves to the tribunals. 
 
 "11. The people of this state, in their right of sovereignty, are deemed to 
 possess the original and ultimate property in and to all lands within the ju- 
 risdiction of the state ; and all lands, the title to which shall fail, from a de- 
 fect of heirs, shall revert or escheat to the people. 
 
 A special escheat law has to settle the rights about property 
 without owner. This may well be left to the towns, a part of the 
 state where it has bee^ presumptively acquired. So the clause 
 will not be missed here if obliterated and transplanted into the 
 statute-book. 
 
 ' " 12. All feudal tenures of every description, with all their incidents, are 
 declared to be abolished ; saving, however, all rents and services certain 
 which at any time heretofore have been lawfully created or reserved. 
 
 " 13. All lands within this state are declared to be allodial, so that, subject 
 only to the liability to escheat, the entire and absolute property is vested in 
 the owners according to the nature of their respective estates. 
 
 " 14. No lease or grant of agricultural land for a longer period than twelve 
 years, hereafter made, in which shall be reserved any rent or service of any 
 kind, shall be valid. 
 
 "15. All fines, quarter-sales, or other like restraints upon alienation, re- 
 served, in any grant of land hereafter to be made, shall be void. 
 
 " 16. No purchase or contract for the sale of lands in this state, made since 
 the fourteenth day of October, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five > 
 or which may hereafter be made, of, or with the Indians, shall be valid, unless 
 made under the authority and with the consent of the legislature." 
 
 There seems to have been no logical connection between those 
 clauses and a real bill of rights. All such things belong to the 
 statute-book. 
 
 "17. Such parts of the common law, and of the acts of the legislature of 
 the colony of New York, as together did form the law of the said colony, on 
 the nineteenth day of April, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, 
 and the resolutions of the Congress of said colony, and of the Convention 
 of the state of New York, in force on the twentieth day of April, one thousand 
 seven hundred and seventy-seven, which have not since expired, or been re- 
 
216 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 pealed or altered ; and such acts of the legislature of this state as are now in 
 force shall be and continue the law of this state, subject to such alterations 
 as the legislature shall make concerning the same. But all such parts of the 
 common law, and such of the said acts, or parts thereof, as are repugnant to 
 this constitution, are hereby abrogated, and the legislature at its first session 
 after the adoption of this constitution, shall appoint three commissioners, 
 whose duty it shall be to reduce into a written and systematic code the whole 
 body of the law of this state, or so much and such parts thereof as to the 
 said commissioners shall seem practicable and expedient. And the said 
 commissioners shall specify such alterations and amendments therein as they 
 shall deem proper, and they shall at all times make reports of their proceed- 
 ings to the legislature when called upon to do so ; and the legislature shall 
 pass laws regulating the tenure of office, the filling of vacancies therein, and 
 the compensation of said commissioners ; and shall also provide for the 
 publication of the said code prior to its being presented to the legislature for 
 adoption." 
 
 All laws enacted by a legislative body of the state of New 
 York, or the colony of New York, must be obeyed until repealed. 
 What laws are valid is the business of the jurists and courts to 
 know. This proviso seems therefore to be superfluous. 
 
 "18. All grants of land within this state, made by the king of Great 
 Britain, or persons acting under his authority, after the fourteenth day of 
 October, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, shall be null and void ; 
 but nothing contained in this constitution shall affect any grants of land 
 within this state, made by the authority of the said king or his predecessors, 
 or shall annul any charters to bodies politic and corporate, by him or them 
 made before that day, or shall affect any such grants or charters since made 
 by tins state, or by persons acting under its authority, or shall impair the 
 obligation of any debts contracted by this state, or individuals, or bodies cor- 
 porate, or any other rights of property, or any suits, actions, rights of action, 
 or other proceedings in courts of justice." 
 
 This proviso is in connection with the colonial history. In 
 1775 the first Congress of the thirteen states assembled at Phila- 
 delphia, New York among them. In 1776 appeared the Declara- 
 tion of Independence. A special act may be useful to guide -the 
 courts in regard to the beginning of the political state independ- 
 ence. Constitutions have nothing to decide on private rights. 
 This is the business of the judiciary. All these provisoes from 
 twelve following are in connection with the manor difficulties ex- 
 isting in this state. About the different modes of possessing 
 property, the statute-book must be explicit. A feudal tenure is 
 land, the limited title of which is derived from a feudal lord, or 
 superior proprietor, who retains a superior property right, recog- 
 
AMERICAN COMMON LAW. 217 
 
 nised by tribute, rent, or services. The opposite is allodial 
 property. 
 
 We have in a great measure disentangled our state institutions 
 from many features of an English origin, and still have perse- 
 veringly to pursue this course of reform to make them American. 
 But before we part from this so-called bill of rights, I should point 
 it out as a sensible trait of this constitution worthy of imitation, 
 that its framers have not inserted the stereotyped phrase gene- 
 rally occurring in other "northern" constitutions, which prohibits 
 involuntary service or bound labor; because it is not only entirely 
 superfluous, this kind of labor being in the north self-prohibitive, 
 but also discourteous toward our southern states, and exceedingly 
 injurious to personal freedom, by frightening away the masters 
 with their bound laborers, from such states, thus depriving the 
 slaves of a chance to become acquainted with society where free 
 labor prevails. 
 
 A constitution is a frame, a form, an organic law, and neither a 
 statute, nor a grant or compromise, in the proper sense of these 
 words. The frame must tit society easily ; society must not be 
 cramped into the frame. 
 
 I take advantage here to add a few remarks on American com- 
 mon law. What bears this name at present is of English origin, 
 and, in regard to general maxims, fair enough, but not better 
 than the Roman law, the main source of all European codes, 
 called, on account of its sound reasoning, written reason. However, 
 the English common law does not exactly answer for our purposes. 
 In order to come to an indigenous common law, our state consti- 
 tutions should firstly, prohibit all reference to any foreign law of 
 whatever origin ; secondly, it should be a general maxim that the 
 judiciary, if called upon to judge on the constitutionality of laws, 
 shall so construe the constitution as if it never intended to interfere 
 with the rights of self-government, of persons, families, towns, and 
 counties, but that one of their main objects is to protect and guar- 
 anty those rights ; thirdly, that a rule be laid down for the division 
 of overgrown political districts, and that these districts*are pro- 
 hibited from contracting debts for private or non-political subjects, 
 to avoid all chances for repudiations and similar dishonest acts ; 
 fourthly, that towns are made responsible for all damages in per- 
 sons and property caused by riots of bands ; that counties are 
 
 10 
 
218 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 responsible for the same caused by riots of the people of a whole 
 town, and that they shall be respectively charged and assessed. 
 If persons are killed, the tariff or principles generally followed in 
 railroad and similar accidents may serve as a rule. By-the-by, 
 these railroad indemnifications prove that in law every person, 
 and not a bound laborer only, has a money value. 
 
 Those who wish to appreciate the name American, as Washing- 
 ton desired in his farewell address, must long for a common law 
 of our own. We are too much governed by foreign laws antag- 
 onistic to our institutions. If I appear as speaking harsh upon 
 such inherited laws, I wish it to be understood that I do not reflect 
 upon men. I recollect to have seen in Sparks's Life of Franklin, 
 an old letter from that true nobleman, Larochefacault, wherein 
 he congratulates the doctor on the federal constitution, adding ex- 
 pressly that it would now become necessary to change our code 
 of laws. I write from memory. If we strip our legislatures of 
 all power to meddle with non-political business, and thus confine 
 their whole attention and time to the better realization of justice, 
 should we not easily and naturally arrive to a more perfect state of 
 public administration and public virtue, too, than the present ? 
 Why not make our states in this, their proper sphere, perfect ? 
 
 My suggestions on the management of our states are at va- 
 riance with the present practice, and why ? because I maintain 
 that only strictly political business should be intrusted to govern- 
 ments, while the usual policy starts from the idea that a state 
 government may do anything it thinks proper for society. The 
 difference, therefore, is in business, not in men. I further main- 
 tain that my views are strictly American, and the other European 
 or Asiatic. If our legislatures ordain that the counties shall have 
 power to establish poorhouses, and tax the people to raise the funds 
 for their support, they assume that the supporting of poor men is 
 a political business, while I call it a mere charitable private per- 
 sonal act of brotherly love. The Christian church, from its be- 
 ginning, took hold of this business, tried to introduce communism 
 on this Account, and later, when united with the states, transferred 
 it to them. We have separated the church from the state, and 
 the church has to take back this charity business, if it may not 
 be entirely left with the benevolent, as a mere personal private 
 affair ; instead of doing so we have, by bad centralization, made it 
 
STATE SCHOLARS. 219 
 
 a county business. The motion made in the legislature of the 
 state of New York of 1857-8, to create a central state-board, for 
 the governing of the poor and almshouse affairs, consisting of a 
 number of commissioners with a salary of four thousand dollars 
 each (I write again from memory), would, if successful, only in- 
 crease this bad centralization. Still, as gratuitous as this motion 
 appears, it is in fact not worse than the law which creates political 
 county poorhouses. 
 
 Another illustration. Sciences and arts are no doubt non-political 
 business. Still at the same legislative session a motion was made 
 to create a state-scholarship. Also this proposition has not been 
 acted upon ; but if we have state regents for colleges, etc., why 
 not have state scholars, too? Such things are anti-American, 
 while the Grand Turk and Queen Victoria may create as many 
 state or court histographers, scholars, painters, etc., as they please, 
 and give them salaries, pensions, orders, titles, etc., beside, and 
 Napoleon III. may forbid soldiers to write newspaper articles. 
 Such motions and laws are to be deprecated in our society. They 
 creep into our statutes in spite of our bills of rights, so that they 
 seem not to be set up with an eye to the perfecting of the 
 American system of governing. But this should be the case, if 
 they are for any use at all. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 Elective Franchise. Restrictions. Citizenship. Ballot. Family voting 
 right. Woman. Connecticut. Christianity. Polygamy. Utah. 
 Kansas Scandals. 
 
 NOTHING has been a greater stumbling-block for legislators, 
 both ancient and modern, than the voting laws, nearly related to 
 the citizenship right. Age, birth, property, taxes, color, religion, 
 and other more or less irrelevant items have been made suffrage 
 conditions, and no two .of our states have uniform laws about it. 
 They at least all conflict with those of Congress in regard to the 
 voting of naturalized citizens. Still the suffrage right is the main 
 spring in our political machinery. It brings us good or bad leg- 
 islators and governors. This constitution has adopted what is 
 
220 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 called the general suffrage. I have already observed that it is not 
 just, and therefore can not be beneficial for society. ^ On this very 
 ground the representative system has taken the place of the pure 
 democracy in the United States. However, in a republic most 
 important questions, as the adoption or amending of constitutions 
 and charters, must necessarily pass the popular ordeal. The cit- 
 izens of Brooklyn and Williamsburgh had to vote on consolidation, 
 a purely monarchical measure, in the end detrimental for both cit- 
 ies, each being already too large for a good local administration. 
 They voted affirmatively. No true republican statesman will ap- 
 prove of such a vote. How important, therefore, is this subject 
 for society. 
 
 But let us see what our constitution ordains about it. 
 
 ARTICLE II. 
 
 The Elective Franchise. 
 
 " 1. Every male citizen of the age of twenty-one years, who shall have been 
 a citizen for ten days, and an inhabitant of this state one year next preceding 
 any election, and for the last four months a resident of the county where he 
 may offer his vote, shall be entitled to vote at s.uch election in the election 
 district of which he shall at the time be a resident, and not elsewhere, for all 
 officers that now are or hereafter may be elected by the people ; but such cit- 
 izen shall have been for thirty days next preceding the election, a resident of 
 the district from which the officer is to be chosen for which he offers his vote. 
 But no man of color, unless he shall have been for three years a citizen of 
 this state, and for one year next preceding any election shall have been seized 
 and possessed of a freehold estate of the value of two hundred and fifty dol- 
 lars, over and above all debts and encumbrances charged thereon, and shall 
 have been actually rated and paid a tax thereon, shall be entitled to vote at 
 such election. And no person of color shall be subject to direct taxation un- 
 less he shall be seized and possessed of such real estate as aforesaid. 
 
 Accordingly the right of voting belongs, in this state, exclusively 
 to male persons. This is not right. The political organization is 
 not a personal but a social necessity ; not made exclusively for the 
 male persons of age, and, if of color, in the possession of a free- 
 hold estate worth two hundred and fifty dollars, but for the 'people, 
 that is, men, women, children, and all their interests. Human so- 
 ciety is not, like armies, clubs, and partnerships, composed of per- 
 sons, but of families. If this is true, and I think it is manifest 
 enough, then to the families, as the constituents of society, belongs 
 exclusively the suffrage right. But this criterion is not all that, 
 
LANGUAGE IN PUBLIC USE. 221 
 
 in our modern free states, a voting law requires. These are or- 
 ganized by written or printed constitutions, hence a necessity that 
 the voter, who represents the family, when the family voting-right 
 is legal, should, besides be able to read the language in public use, 
 and to write it too, because he has to vote with the help of printed 
 or written tickets. The working of the machinery of the state 
 depends upon publicity, or upon writing, reading, speaking, and 
 printing. The public business must, in a great measure, remain 
 chaotic for a man who can not read. How will such a man be 
 able to vote with due circumspection ? If they were, for the time 
 being, excluded from the polls, it would induce the indolent to learn 
 how to read and write, and have his children instructed, without 
 being forced to it by truant laws and policemen ; or by school 
 boards and state laws. Connecticut had the courage to make the 
 knowledge of language a voting law. Give, then, each family a 
 vote, to be cast by its head, retain the term of twenty-one years 
 of age, add the just-mentioned conditions, harmonize the state and 
 Congressional legislation, and you will not only comply with the 
 equitable laws of society, but also reconcile woman with the state 
 institutions. They have a greater influence upon their success 
 than is usually believed. 
 
 It is an act of sincere chivalry to make woman a silent partner 
 of the citizenship right. The pernicious aberrations about wo 
 man's rights, require, urgently, such a law as a corrective. 
 
 "2. Laws may be passed excluding from the right of suffrage all persons 
 who have been, or may be convicted of bribery, larceny, or of any infamous 
 crime, and for depriving every person who shall make, or become directly or 
 indirectly interested in any bet or wager depending upon the result of any 
 election, from the right to vote at such election. 
 
 This is matter for a criminal law-code, or statute-book, but gen- 
 erally right. Such men should also be excluded from the jury. 
 
 " 3. For the purpose of voting, no person shall be deemed to have gained 
 or lost a residence, by reason of his presence or absence, while employed in 
 the service of the United States ; nor while engaged in the navigation of the 
 waters of this state, or of the United States, or of the high seas ; nor while 
 a student of any seminary of learning, nor while kept at any almshouse, or 
 other asylum, at public expense ; nor while confined in any public prison." 
 
 Belonging to the statute book. 
 
 "4. Laws shall be made for ascertaining by proper proofs the citizens who 
 shall be entitled to the right of suffrage hereby established. 
 
 
222 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 " 5. All elections by the citizens shall be by ballot, except for such town 
 officers as may by law be directed to be otherwise chosen." 
 
 Partly objects of special laws. 
 
 I venture a few lines more upon this subject. 
 
 Such a judicious suffrage law as that of families, resting upon 
 a just social basis, must exercise a highly beneficial influence upon 
 the governments, public virtue, and the morals in general. 
 
 Christianity has sanctified the family state, the best men of 
 all ages, our Franklin included, have advised its establishment. 
 Why then should the civil law hesitate to support it ? By giving 
 to the families exclusively the suffrage right, the state would act 
 in the spirit of Christianity and humanity, and bestow upon wo- 
 man so much social equality, as naturally belongs to her, while 
 the usual general suffrage law ignores her entirely, and brings 
 men upon the political stage who are not entitled to it. I speak 
 only of the family suffrage right, not of offices, those may be oc- 
 cupied by any qualified person, whether married or not. 
 
 There good statesmanship is in request. It should begin with 
 the territories. 
 
 It would have prevented polygamy in Utah or elsewhere in the 
 United States, either sanctioned by law, or connived at, especially 
 in large cities ; it would prevent Kansas-voting scandal ; it would 
 exclude not only the votaries of celibacy from the polls, but also 
 all mobs. It promises better quiet voting than anything which 
 has been devised at present. Why not try it ? 
 
 What I miss in this article is, that the Congressional legislation 
 on the citizenship rights of emigrants has not been noticed at all, 
 although this constitutes in this regard the supreme law of the 
 land. It would be well to act in such things systematically. The 
 people in New York state must cheerfully respect the laws made 
 by the agency of their own representatives in Congress. By 
 doing so their own proper state laws will be, in turn, more cheer- 
 fully respected. 
 
 What may we reasonably expect from frequent elections and 
 rotation in office ? This is an appropriate question here, which 
 you can only answer if you abstract entirely from persons and par- 
 ties, and argue merely upon "business, population, and size," 
 as I have often observed. If those three material items are not 
 well adjusted, no election, no change of party, no rotation will im- 
 
LEGISLATURE. 223 
 
 prove the public affairs, because no men, however experienced, 
 skillful, and honest, can manage a business well, which, by itself, 
 is unmanageable. A hundred Washingtons can not make of 
 France a good republic, unless the size, population, and public 
 business, are previously republicanized, the standing army dis- 
 banded, the state clergy abolished, etc., etc. All our dispropor- 
 tionate cities and states will only, by too much office-rotation and 
 too frequent party shifts, be ruined faster than under a more steady 
 form of government. The history of the last twenty-five years 
 must convince every sensible man that the evil is not personal but 
 material. To have then the least faith in party-shifts is absurd. 
 All parties will make the most of the bad state of things, will with 
 alacrity promise reforms, and the honest men among them will try 
 to the utmost of their abilities to realize them, but not to much 
 real purpose. The mayors of New York since twenty-five years 
 were all able men. In what condition is the city ? Every day's 
 paper tells it. I conclude this epistle with a common-sense ques- 
 tion : what voyage do you think a first rate sea-captain would make 
 with a vessel whose rudder and sails are not adequate to the size 
 of the craft? 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 Legislature. Senate. Districts. Census. Apportionment. Assem- 
 bly Districts. Compensation. Civil Appointment. Congressional Of- 
 ficers. Election Time. Quorum. Journal. Originating of Bills. 
 Enacting Clause. Majority. Private Bills. Legislative Powers of the 
 Supervisors. County Election District. Family Census. France. 
 Connecticut. Aristotle. Greeks. 
 
 WE have now to examine seventeen provisoes on the legislative 
 powers. You will remember that in regard to the national po- 
 litical affairs all legislative powers are committed to the care of 
 one body the Congress. But a mere glance at a state map or 
 the working of our state institutions, as I have endeavored to de- 
 scribe it in a separate letter in the First Part, will convince you 
 that, in a municipal state, the legislative powers are not so much 
 centralized as in Congress, but divided into three channels or dis- 
 tricts, called state, county, and town (cities and villages), an ar- 
 
224 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 rangement which is of the highest importance for the good dis- 
 patch of the municipal business, and the preservation of order and 
 civil liberty. Interference with the legislative, judicial, and exe- 
 cutive rights of these districts are called encroachments or rebel- 
 lions. Let us see what the constitution contains about the law- 
 making powers of those districts. 
 
 ARTICLE III. 
 
 " 1. The legislative power of this state shall be vested in a senate and as- 
 sembly." 
 
 We meet here the double chamber system again. 
 
 " 2. The senate shall consist of thirty-two members, and the senators shall 
 be chosen for two years. The assembly shall consist of one hundred and 
 twenty-eight members, who shall be annually elected." 
 
 This proviso creates annual sessions, while biennial would prom- 
 ise to prevent too much legislation, a great evil in our times. 
 
 "3. The state shall be divided into thirty-two districts, to be called senate 
 districts, each of which shall choo-e one senator. The districts shall be num- 
 bered from one to thirty-two inclusive. District No. 1, shall consist of the 
 counties of Suffolk, Richmond, and Queens. District No. 2 shall consist 
 of the county of Kings. Districts No. 3, 4, 5, and 6 shall consist of the 
 city and county of New York. And the board of supervisors of said city 
 and county shall, on or before the first day of May, 1847, divide the said 
 city and county into the number of senate districts to which it is entitled, 
 as near as may be of an equal number of inhabitants excluding ali. ns and 
 persons of color not taxed, and consisting of convenient and contiguous 
 territory, and no assembly district shall be divided in the formation of 
 a senate district. The board of supervisors, when they shall have com- 
 pleted such division, shall cause certificates thereof, stating the number and 
 boundaries of each district and the population thereof, to be fib d in the office 
 of the secretary of state and of the clerk of the said city and county. Dis- 
 trict No. 7 shall consist <>f the counties of Westchester, Putnam, and Rock- 
 land. District No. 8 shall consist of the counties of Dutchess and Columbia. 
 District No. 9 shall consist of the counties of Orange and Sullivan. District 
 No. 10 shall consist of the counties of Ulster and Greene. District No. 11 
 shall consist of the counties of Albany and Schenectady. District No. 12 
 shall consist of the county of Rensselear. District No. 13 shall consist of 
 the counties of Washington and Saratoga. District No. 14 shall consist of 
 the counties of Warren, Essex, and Clinton. District No. 15 shall consist 
 of the counties of St. Lawrence and Fr.-mklin. District No. 16 shall consist 
 of the counties of Herkimer, Hamilton, Fulton, arid Montgomery. District 
 No. 17 shall consist of the counties of Srlioharie and Delaware. District 
 No. 18 shall consist of the counties of Otsego and Ch nango. District No. 
 19 shall consist of the county of Oneida. District No. 20 shall consist of 
 
COUNTIES. TOWNS. 225 
 
 the counties of Madison and Oswego. District No. 21 shall consist of the 
 counties of Jefferson and Lewis. District No. 22 shall consist of the county of 
 Onondaga. District No. 23 shall consist of the counties of Cortland, Broome, 
 and Tioga. District No. 24 shall consist of the counties of Cayuga and 
 Wayne. District No. 25 shall consist of the counties of Tompkins, Seneca, 
 and Yates. District No. 26 shall consist of the counties of Steuben and 
 Chemung. District No. 27 shall consist of the county of Monroe. District 
 No. 28 shall consist of the counties of Orleans, Genesee, and Niagara. Dis- 
 trict No. 29 shall consist of the counties of Ontario and Livingston. Dis- 
 trict No. 30 shall consist of the counties of Allegany and Wyoming. District 
 No. 31 shnll consist of the county of Erie. District No. 32 shall consist of 
 the counties of Chautauque and Cattaraugus." 
 
 This proviso takes the place of one in the old constitution, which 
 made the county the basis of the senatorial election. It is no im- 
 provement rather the reverse. The counties are the large trunk 
 roots of the state tree the towns their rootlets. Both are its 
 supporters and feeders. These districts are the schools of citizen- 
 ship, the nurseries of practical business men, the arenas for the 
 exercise of talent, the receivers of patriotic bounties, the managers 
 of the true political home interests, the fields upon which grow 
 the substantial blessings of liberty, the depositories of the real 
 rights and privileges of freemen. Each may develop a charac- 
 ter of its own either good or bad, each is a circle full of attach- 
 ments, hopes, home-feelings, and recollections, dear even to the 
 rudest. From such a circle we must take our legislators, if we 
 will have trustworthy, self-made, representative men, speaking out 
 the legitimate incorporate voice of the people. There the legis- 
 lator has his family, his companions, his popular stand and stand- 
 ard ; there are his restraints, and there he can and will be held 
 responsible. This proviso now destroys, in a great measure, these 
 guaranties. It transplants him into a district which, being a mere 
 abstraction, cuts him loose from those roots and rootlets of the 
 state tree, throwing him, with body and soul, into the caldron of 
 party, wherein are boiled such laws as the metropolitan police 
 law, and court factions, which create elective judiciaries and simi- 
 lar abortions. A senator from such a paper district represents 
 nothing political no constitutional interest. This explains why 
 the senate of the state of New York refused to repeal the metro- 
 politan police law, although desired by the four counties in ques- 
 tion, with over one million of souls, and voted for by the assembly. 
 
 10* 
 
226 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Such a senate knows nothing of counties and their interests, and 
 boldly ignores petitions, however well-founded in right. 
 
 Why the state senate shall consist of only , thirty-two members 
 and the other house of one hundred and twenty-eight, although 
 both have the same business, even in regard to the state finances, 
 to perform, is, as I observed before, not intelligible, because the 
 main reason of this dualism is to check inconsiderate legislation. 
 
 Again, republics must be plainly organized. It must be the 
 tender solicitude of statesmen to make intelligence, patriotism, and 
 all public virtues available for the primitive, indispensable, social 
 working districts, called towns and counties, in order to perfect 
 their constitutional efficacy. 
 
 I willingly admit that the districting policy of the constitution 
 may have its origin in the numerical inequality of the counties, 
 and do not believe, that it originated exactly in party politics, or a 
 distinct plan to emasculate tfie counties and towns, or to neutralize 
 their public influence ; far from it. Still it does immense harm. 
 Our legislatures or governments rule by the counties and towns ; 
 they are their strong hands and arms. To slight them is tanta- 
 mount to weakening the government. The reverse takes place in 
 monarchies. There the policy is to strip the counties and towns 
 of their rights and independence, and render them subservient to 
 the will of the ruler. If the legislatures keep the counties nu- 
 merically in order, divide them as often as necessary, they will 
 serve for all election purposes at all times very well. 
 
 "4. An enumeration of the inhabitants of the state shall be taken under the 
 direction of the legislature, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty- 
 five, and at the end of every ten years thereafter; and the said districts shall be 
 so altered by the legislature, at the first session after the return of every enume- 
 ration, that each senate district shall contain, as nearly as- may be, an equal 
 number of inhabitants, excluding aliens and persons of color not taxed ; and 
 shall remain unaltered until the return of another enumeration, and shall at 
 all times consist of contiguous territory, and no county shall be divided in 
 the formation of a senate district, except such county shall be equitably en- 
 titled to two or more senators." 
 
 This section is the cause of the state census. It is based upon 
 the inhabitants, and not upon the families. But after a hundred 
 thousand countings of the people in all parts of the world, in an- 
 cient and modern times, have elicited the truth, that the number 
 of families, multiplied by five, give as exact a result as the 
 
FAMILY CENSUS. 227 
 
 counting of all the inhabitants, in consideration that the constant 
 changes caused by birth and mortality influence minutely the cen- 
 sus. Why not, I ask, stick to this truth which is a law of nature 
 and repeat that troublesome personal enumeration again and 
 again ? We can be with this truth quite as well satisfied as with 
 that that twice two make four. I have written on the family cen- 
 sus in other places, and add here, that it not only simplifies the 
 business, but opens also the way to the family suffrage. 
 
 We live upon a very much exposed hill ; our public affairs are 
 mercilessly scrutinized abroad. A French savant, in favor of 
 republican institutions, some years ago, argued thus : " If those 
 political wiseacres in the United States had long time since adop- 
 ted the family suffrage, already recommended by Aristotle as the 
 best, we probably would have adopted both, never indulged in the 
 dangerous experiment of the general suffrage a great insult to 
 woman excluded thus the vote ofthe mobs, standing army, and 
 unmarried clergy from the ballot-box, and arrived at other results 
 than we witness now." Why have the most intelligent people of 
 antiquity, the Greeks, not followed the counsel of one of the best 
 philosophers the world has produced? Because they were a 
 branch of the Oriental society, transplanted to Europe, and, there- 
 fore, polygamists. The fact that the cunning Napoleons trusted 
 their luck to the general suffrage speaks, no doubt, volumes in 
 favor of the family suffrage. Still it would be impossible to intro- 
 duce it into France, because Paris and the army and clergy would 
 be against it. But the true friends of social progress will greet it 
 as a great moral and political victory, that Connecticut just of 
 the right proportion to be a good state, as she really is has made 
 one step ; one more, and all the glory wiH be with her. 
 
 By-the-bye, the items which we collect at the census-taking 
 are, in our eternally-moving society, of a very little worth, and 
 may be as well left with the industry of the friends of statistics, 
 editors, and publishers, to whose business line they belong. A 
 state institution with us is not made to enlighten the people, as I 
 told you before. 
 
 "5. The members of assembly shall be apportioned among the several 
 counties of the state, BY THE LEGISLATURE, as nearly as may be, according 
 to the number of their respective inhabitants, excluding aliens and persons 
 of color not taxed, and shall be chosen by single districts." 
 
228 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 This clause and the following may lead to a new districting, 
 which can not happen if the counties are organized with due re- 
 gard to population. 
 
 " The several boards of supervisors in such counties of this state, as arc 
 now entitled to more than one member of assembly, shall assemble on the 
 first Tuesday of January next, and divide their respective counties into as- 
 sembly districts equal to the number of members of assembly to which such 
 counties are now severally entitled by law, and shall cause to be filed in the 
 offices of the secretary of state and the clerks of their respective counties a 
 description of such assembly districts, specifying the number of each district 
 and the population thereof, according to the last preceding state enumeration, 
 as near as can be ascertained. Each assembly district shall contain, as nearly 
 as may be, an equal number of inhabitants, excluding aliens and persons of 
 color not taxed, and shall consist of convenient and contiguous territory; 
 but no town shall be divided in the formation of assembly districts. 
 
 " The legislature, at its first session after the return of every enumeration, 
 shall re-apportion the members of assembly among the several counties of 
 this state, in manner aforesaid, and the boards of supervisors in such coun- 
 ties as may be entitled, under such re-apportionment, to more than one mem- 
 ber, shall assemble at such time as the legislature making such re-apportion- 
 ment shall prescribe, and divide such counties into assembly districts, in the 
 manner herein directed; and the apportionment and districts so to be made 
 shall remain unaltered until another enumeration shall be taken under the 
 provisions of the preceding section. 
 
 " Every county heretofore established and separately organized, except the 
 county of Hamilton, shall always be entitled to one member of the assem- 
 bly, and no new county shall be hereafter erected, unless its population shall 
 entitle it to a member. 
 
 " The county of Hamilton shall elect with the county of Fulton, until tho 
 population of the county of Hamilton shall, according to the ratio, be en- 
 titled to a member." 
 
 I am not called upon to make proposition for a new constitu- 
 tion ; but, as an interested looker-on, I take the liberty to suggest : 
 To elect in each county (large cities respectively treated) one 
 senator and one assembly-man, which will make it possible for the 
 people to select able men from the right place and for the right 
 business. 
 
 " 6. The members of the legislature shall receive for their service a sum not 
 exceeding three dollars a day, from the commencement of the session ; but 
 such pay shall not exceed in the aggregate three hundred dollars for per diem 
 allowance, except in the proceedings for impeachment. The limitation as 
 to the aggregate compensation shall not take effect until 1848. When con- 
 vened in extra session by the governor, they shall receive three dollars per 
 day. They shall also .receive the sum of one dollar for every ten miles 
 
COMPENSATION. DISQUALIFICATIONS. 229 
 
 they shall travel, in going to and returning from their places of meeting 
 on the most usual route. The speaker of the assembly shall, in virtue of 
 his office, receive an additional compensation equal to the one third of his 
 per diem allowance as a member." 
 
 This proviso has some excellent features. Its principal pur- 
 pose is to make legislation respectable, by limiting the time of a 
 session virtually to one hundred days, preventing in this manner 
 speculations with law-making. Still, this bears yet more improv- 
 ing. Suppose the honor to be a legislator of the most enlight- 
 ened part of society an American free state deserves this 
 praise without flattering should be considered by the constitu- 
 tion so highly valuable that no pay would be adequate, and there- 
 for* none allowed by the constitution ; this would shorten the 
 session still more > curtail superfluous buncomb Kansas speech-mak- 
 ing and resolving on heterogeneous things, and oblige the legisla- 
 tors to husband their time. All special (log-rolling) laws would 
 become very scarce, for their objects can be in most instances 
 reached by judiciously-organized counties and towns. It is the 
 price of genuine civilization to be in need of a very little govern- 
 ing. Paul was well aware of this ; hence his sound doctrine. 
 
 "7. No member of the legislature shall receive any civil appointment within 
 this state, or to the senate of the United States, from the governor, the gov- 
 ernor and senate, or from the legislature, during the term for which he shall 
 have been elected ; and all such appointments, and all votes given for any 
 such member for any such office or appointment, shall be void. 
 
 "8. No person being a member of Congress or holding any judicial or 
 military office under the United States, shall hold a seat in the legislature. 
 And if any person shall, after his election as a member of the legislature, be 
 elected to Congress or appointed to any office, civil or military, under the 
 government of the United States, his acceptance thereof shall vacate his 
 seat. 
 
 " 9. The elections of senators and members of assembly, pursuant to 
 the provisions of this constitution, shall be held on the Tuesday succeeding 
 the first Monday of November, unless otherwise directed by the legislature. 
 
 "10. A majority of each house shall constitute a quorum to do business. 
 Each house shall determine the rules of its own proceedings, and be the 
 judge of the elections, returns, and qualifications of its own members, shall 
 choose its own officers, and the senate shall choose a temporary president, 
 when the lieutenant-governor shall not attend as president, or shall act as 
 governor. 
 
 "11. Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and publish the 
 same, except such parts as may require secrecy. The doors of each house 
 shall be kept open, except when the public welfare shall require secrecy. 
 
230 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Neither house shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than 
 two days. 
 
 " 12. For any speech or debate in either house of the legislature, the 
 members shall not be questioned in any other place. 
 
 " 13. Any bill may originate in either house of the legislature, and all 
 bills passed by one house may be amended by 'the other. 
 
 " 14. The enacting clause of all bills shall be, ' The People of the state of 
 New York, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows ;' and 
 no law shall be enacted except by bill. 
 
 " 15. No bill shall be passed unless by the assent of a majority of all the 
 members elected to each branch of the legislature, and the question upon 
 the final passage shall be taken immediately upon its last reading, and the 
 yeas and nays entered on the journal. 
 
 "16. No private or local bill which may be passed by the legislature, 
 shall embrace more than one subject, and that shall be expressed jp the 
 title. 
 
 "17. The legislature may confer upon the boards of supervisors of the 
 several counties of the state, such farther powers, local, legislative, and ad- 
 ministrative, as they shall from time to time prescribe." 
 
 This is plain. The seventeenth clause contains all the" infor- 
 mation in the constitution about the local, legislative, and admin- 
 istrative powers vested in the county officials. The names of 
 the counties are also given ; but why there are counties, where 
 they are coming from, what difference there is between towns 
 and counties, whether these most important political districts are 
 of Dutch, or English, or American origin, and entirely depend- 
 ing upon the pleasure of the legislature or not, what rights they 
 possess, the constitution does not show. If these political districts 
 are mere accidental, why say a word in the constitution about 
 the canals and canal officers, banks, etc, who, as such, have not 
 the least connection with the state institution proper ; or do we re- 
 quire canals or salt springs for the realization of justice ? Is there 
 a word in the federal constitution concerning forts, arsenals, and 
 docks, although Congress have built several ? The omission of 
 the organic dispositions concerning the towns and counties is, no 
 doubt, a cardinal oversight ; for without these districts the state 
 machinery could not work at all ; and if they are not organized 
 according to sound, firm, political principles, laid down in the con- 
 stitution, it will work but badly, while without a line on canals, 
 corporations, education, banks, and the like, this institution would 
 answer to its real purpose very well. These districts are as it 
 were, social breakwaters in regard to the powers of the governing 
 
TEMPERANCE LAWS. 231 
 
 and governed. Without them the government would not take 
 root or be firmly anchored, but drift about at the mercy of the 
 populace, who on the other hand, without them, would be in 
 eternal confusion and commotion. In a word, anarchy would be 
 the rule, and tyranny take the place of civil liberty. 
 
 Before I leave this subject, I ask you to imagine what intoler- 
 able confusion there would be in a house without division walls 
 and rooms, like a church, occupied by a large number of families 
 to live in. The same confusion would happen in society if it 
 were not divided into convenient business districts, in ancient 
 times known as clans, tribes, etc. Even in absolute monarchies 
 you will therefore find social divisions, answering to our town- 
 ships and counties. Their importance is my excuse if I am too 
 diffuse. 
 
 If you are attentive to the current legislation, you will notice 
 instances of laws failing, because they are decl-ared unconstitu- 
 tional or repugnant to society. This happens invariably if by 
 such laws the public business is dislocated. As an example, I 
 avert to the state temperance laws. These have everywhere 
 failed, because it is a part of the town government to abate, in 
 conformity with the town (city, village) by-laws, instances of ex- 
 cessive drinking, causing a public nuisance. It is a logical and 
 political necessity to leave the checking of this evil to the town 
 governments, because it is only very relative or personal, and 
 in its nature no subject for a general state-law. 
 
 This subject has been misunderstood at all times, otherwise we 
 would not find in Plutarch the following sentence : " Those who 
 carry every trifle (mere local affairs) to the highest magistrate, 
 are the most dangerous enemies of their country." 
 
 Very true, especially in republics. My partiality for this 
 beautiful, natural, simple form of government, will excuse this 
 long epistle. 
 
232 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 Executive. Governor's Duties. Legislative Committees. Lieutennnt- 
 Governor. Eligibility. Commander-in-Chief. Messages. Salary. 
 Navy. Army. Execution of Laws. President of the Senate. Re- 
 prieves. Pardon. Impeachment. Veto. 
 
 THE second department of the government will now occupy our 
 attention. 
 
 ARTICLE IV. 
 
 Executive. 
 
 " 1. The executive power shall be vested in a governor, who shall hold his 
 office for two years ; a lieutenant-governor shall be chosen at the same time, 
 and for the same term. 
 
 " 2. No person, except a citizen of the United S'ates, shall be eligible to 
 the office of governor ; nor shall any person be eligible to that office, who shall 
 not have attained the age of thirty years, and who shall not have been five 
 years next preceding his election, a resident within this state. 
 
 " 3. The governor and lieutenant-governor shall be elected at the times and 
 places of choosing members of the Assembly. The persons respectively 
 having the highest number of votes for governor and lieutenant-governor, 
 shall be elected ; but in case two or more shall have an equal and the highest 
 number of votes for governor, or for lieutenant-governor, the two houses of 
 the legislature at its next annual session, shall, forthwith, by joint ballot, 
 choose one of the said persons so having an equal and the highest number 
 of votes for governor, or lieutenant-governor. 
 
 "4. The governor sh;ill be commander-in-chief of the military and naval 
 forces of the state. He shall have power to convene the legislature (or the 
 senate only) on extraordinary occasions. He shall communicate by message 
 to the legislature at every session, the condition of the state, and recommend 
 such matters to them as he shall judge expedient. He shall transact all 
 necessary business with the officers of government, civil and military. He 
 shall expedite all such measures as may be resolved upon by the legislature, 
 and shall take care that the laws are faithfully executed. He shall, at stated 
 times, receive for his services a compensation to be established by law, which 
 shall neither be increased nor diminished after his election and during his 
 continuance in office." 
 
 The first three sections are plain. The fourth seems to be en- 
 tirely mistaken by the governors themselves, and those who com- 
 
GOVERNOR'S DUTIES. 233 
 
 plain that this constitution has stripped the governor of power to 
 such an extent as to discredit the office, because it manifestly 
 makes, in plain words, this officer, by enjoining upon him the 
 duty to take care that the" laws are faithfully executed, the re- 
 sponsible head of the whole state administration. Accordingly, the 
 governor has the supreme control of all public offices, officers, ar.d 
 affairs, in the several political districts. This is all the constitu- 
 tion can do. The duty of the official, clad with such high power, 
 is now to use it energetically. This requires, of course, courage, 
 a thorough knowledge of the purpose of a state institution, of the 
 proper nature of the political business, to what district it belongs, 
 and of the laws in general. It follows that he has to transact 
 personally, or by writing, all affairs with the officials, who become 
 practical subjects of this control. By pointing out this expressly, 
 the constitution evidently explains the magnitude of the trust. 
 
 This control is made with us exceedingly easy by the prevalent 
 general publicity. The press keeps a constant record of all 
 events. Suppose the governor has access to a reading-room con- 
 taining, at least, one paper from each county, he will be posted 
 of every fact of importance, enabling him to transact the neces- 
 sary controlling business. Any deviation from official duty, espe- 
 cially if it should originate with the executives of counties and 
 towns (cities, villages), he is obliged to examine and resent, in 
 accordance with the laws. We often notice that state legislatures 
 appoint committees to examine into the local affairs of towns and 
 counties, as poor-houses, prisons, lodging-houses, catholic ladies* 
 seminaries, police (metropolitan or not), etc. Supposing that 
 these affairs are requiring a special examination, is this not, in 
 extraordinary instances, a duty incumbent upon the governor, 
 for which he is paid, and, indeed, an encroachment upon his exe- 
 cutive power, when done by legislatures? Legislatures, if they 
 would not degrade purposely the governors to mere* showmen, 
 should carefully avoid such steps ; and no governor, conscious of 
 his constitutional duty, to see that the laws are faithfully executed, 
 should consent to such erratic legislative measures. They un- 
 necessarily increase the expenses of governing and betray a bad 
 spirit to unsettle the constitution. It is the duty of the legislature 
 to impeach the governor, if neglecting his control duty, but not to 
 step in and to do it itself for extra pay. There is an English 
 
234 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 circumlocution precedent at the bottom of this objectionable com- 
 mittee system. 
 
 I do not claim arbitrary Napoleonic powers for our governors. 
 No, they should only be for the state institution what a sea- 
 captain is*for his ship, a husbandman for his farm, a manufacturer 
 for his establishment. In one word, they should take good care 
 that in all parts of the state the laws are faithfully executed, 
 wherefore they are expressly enjoined to transact all necessary 
 business with the officers of the government, and to expedite all 
 measures that may be resolved upon by the legislature, and even 
 convoke the legislature expressly for this purpose. Upon this he 
 is sworn in ; he is, therefore, responsible for the good administra- 
 tion of the laws or working of the state institution. Therefore, he 
 is also commander-in-chief of the military and naval forces of the 
 state, although there are some who have doubts about the correct- 
 ness of this proviso, because, according to the federal constitution, 
 the president shall be the sole commandrr-in-chief of the army 
 and navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several 
 states, when called into the actual service. There is, indeed, no 
 case imaginable for a state governor to exercise such a function, 
 unless the United States are at war. Moreover, there is no such 
 thing as a navy of the state of New York, or any other state. 
 The Congress is bound to protect the several states against inva- 
 sion and internal commotions ; the federal constitution expressly 
 forbids the states to keep troops, that is, a standing army, or ships- 
 of-war, in time of peace. With all these wise provisoes of the 
 federal constitution, this clause of the state constitution seems to 
 clash. Does not this smack of empire ? and why not ? this state 
 district comprises at present as many inhabitants as the thirteen 
 colonies when they declared themselves independent ! There is 
 something, not exactly curious, but ominous, in such provisoes. 
 There is a tendency to puff our state governments up into the 
 regions of empires and majesties, while we forget to make their 
 organizations complete and perfect downward in regard to the 
 political detail business of home and peaceable daily life. Our 
 states have no military forces at all. State citizens, although 
 drilled, are not troops, soldiers, or military forces, in the proper 
 sense of the word, unless mustered into service by the Congress. 
 Before that time they are mere gentleman train-bands. 
 
MESSAGES. 235 
 
 The fact is, that this gubernatorial control is at present entirely 
 neglected ; for I have never seen it working, while every atten- 
 tive reader of a daily paper may notice frequent instances of the 
 non-execution of the laws, under the very eyes of the governor. 
 I admit that the overlarge size of the state of New York has 
 much to answer for this defective executive surveillance ; still it 
 seems as if every man, every newspaper, had more influence upon 
 the execution of the laws than the governor. Lawyers and 
 judges, and other officials, do as they please, and if a criminal 
 escapes, private persons send their ships after him, while the 
 governor sits quietly upon his throne in his mansion, looking at 
 this spectacle, pocketing his salary, without doing anything. 
 
 A distinguished New York editor lately honored the European 
 governments with the cognomen of huge impostures. Still, if the 
 governor of California keeps his counsel when the state treasurer 
 is a defaulter, or the common councils of different cities are 
 nothing but swindling concerns, and the magistrates bargain with 
 the criminals about their punishment, until the outraged citizens 
 take the law into their own hands, and then come forward and make 
 a great show of executive power by declaring these citizens to be 
 in a state of rebellion, what appellation deserves such a govern- 
 ment? In the constitution of California, art. v., sect. 7, it is 
 expressly ordained : he, the governor, shall see that the laws are 
 faithfully executed ! It is, therefore, not the fault of the consti- 
 tution when the governor does not check the defective execution 
 of the laws, but of the universally prevalent apathy and careless- 
 ness in the management of this office. No constitutional prince 
 can ask for more power than that of a general control and veto. 
 
 The regular session messages of the governors, together with 
 the reports of the chief administrative officers of the state, spread- 
 ing information and light over the finances and operations of the 
 administration, are important documents. They form an indis- 
 pensable basis for legislative action, to bring a system into it and 
 adapt it to the actual wants, as it can not be expected from the 
 members of the legislature, especially of a large state, involved 
 in extensive public works and enterprises, that they may acquire 
 this information at home. If the executive suggestions, in refer- 
 ence to the measures to be acted upon, would be always, without 
 the least delay, and in preference of all others, promptly attended 
 
236 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 to, the public would only gain by it. These suggestions could 
 be easily made very available for the administration of justice if 
 they would be blended with opinions of experienced judges and 
 other business men. Being more ruled by the word than by law 
 and its execution, the contents of such messages exercise a 
 wholesome influence upon the people, even when they should be 
 neglected by the legislatures, as it often happens. 
 
 " 5. The governor shall have the power to grant reprieves, commutations, 
 and pardons, after conviction, for all offences except treason and cases of 
 impeachment, upon such conditions, and with such restrictions and limita- 
 tions as he may think proper, subject to such regulation as may be provided 
 by law, relative to the manner of applying for pardons. Upon conviction 
 for treason, he shall have power to suspend the execution of the sentence, 
 until the case shall be reported to the legislature at its next meeting, when 
 the legislature shall either pardon or commute the sentence, direct the exe- 
 cution of the sentence, or grant a farther reprieve. He shall annually com- 
 municate to the legislature each case of reprieve, commutation, or pardon 
 granted ; stating the name of the convict, the crime of which he was con- 
 victed, the sentence and its date, and the date of the commutation, pardon, 
 or reprieve." 
 
 I have spoken of the pardoning and the like powers in the first 
 part ; according to all experience our governors are more prone 
 to pardon than is desirable. It seems as if they are afraid of 
 justice, and, therefore, always at hand if they can hinder the exe- 
 cution of the laws. These should be, of course, humane, but 
 strictly executed, if mobs are not to rule soon supremely among us. 
 
 " 6. In case of the impeachment of the governor, or his removal from office, 
 death, inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, resigna- 
 tion, or absence from the state, the powers and duties of the office shall de- 
 volve upon the lieutenant-governor for the residue of the term, or until the 
 disability shall cea*e. But when the governor shall, with the consent of the 
 legislature, be out of the state in time of war, at the head of a military force 
 thereof, he shall continue commander-in-chief of all the military force of the 
 state." 
 
 If the governor should be out of the state in time of war, he 
 must be so, I suppose, under the orders of the president of the 
 United States. This clause may lead to misunderstandings with 
 the federal executive, and should be rather expunged. 
 
 " 7. The lieutenant-governor shall possess the same qualifications of eligi- 
 bility for office as the governor. He shall be president of the senate, but 
 shall have only a casting vote therein. If, during a vacancy of the office of 
 governor, the lieutenant-governor shall be impeached, displaced, resign, die, 
 
VETO POWER. 237 
 
 or become incapable of performing the duties of his office, or be absent from 
 the state, the president of the senate shall act as governor, until the vacancy 
 be filled, or the disability shall cease. 
 
 " 8. The lieutenant-governor shall, while acting as such, receive a compen- 
 sation which shall be fixed by law, and which shall not be increased or di- 
 minished during his continuance in office. 
 
 " 9 Every bill which shall have passed the senate and assembly, shall, be- 
 fore it becomes a law, be presented to the governor : if he approve, he shall 
 sign it ; but if not, he shall return it, with his objections, to that house in 
 which it shall have originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their 
 journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration, two 
 thirds of the members present shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, to- 
 gether with the objections, to the other house, by which it shall likewise be 
 reconsidered ; and if approved by two thirds of all the members present, it 
 shall become a law, notwithstanding the objections of the governor. But in 
 all such cases, the votes of both houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, 
 and the names of the members voting for and against the bill shall be en- 
 tered on the journal of each house respectively. If any bill shall not be re- 
 turned by the governor within ten days (Sundays excepted), after it shall 
 have been presented to him, the same shall be a law, in like manner as if he 
 had signed it, unless the legislature shall, by their adjournment, prevent its 
 return, in which case it shall not be a law/' 
 
 These three sections are plain. They are partly copied from 
 the federal constitution. The approval of bills must take place 
 during the time of the session. The peremptory term of ten days 
 in the ninth clause is good. Such peremptory terms should be 
 adopted by the Code of Civil Procedure, in all stages of a pro- 
 cess, to avoid delays and the starting of new points, too often from 
 mere motives of intrigue and chicanery. The veto of a law should 
 have the effect to transfer the bill to the next following legislature ; 
 if this should approve it by a two-third vote, it may become a 
 law, for a vetoed bill, presumptively, is not required by the 
 urgency of circumstances and time, but merely by a party and for 
 party purposes. 
 
 The veto power is an important part of the supreme control of 
 the state institution. The state governors, after having taken the 
 oath on the constitutions of the Union and State, are bound to 
 prevent unconstitutional, party, and mere partisan legislation. 
 What is unconstitutional legislation, each governor must make 
 clear to himself before he is sworn in, because, by approving an 
 unconstitutional law, he commits legal perjury. A .man who is 
 not able to judge about constitutionality as certain as the court of 
 
238 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 appeals, should not be governor. The constitution gives him full 
 power to promote the good of the commonwealth, but he must, of 
 course, understand its laws. It must be a cardinal duty of the 
 governor never to approve any bill, or even resolution, which in- 
 terferes in the least with the constitutional national business of 
 Congress. All our states, Connecticut included, have been in this 
 regard great sinners, mostly owing to the incapacity of their gov- 
 ernors. The powers bestowed in this article upon the executive 
 require special laws to make them operative, to instill more ac- 
 tivity into this officer, and terminate the present know-nothing and 
 do-nothing practice, but the constitution is here well enough, the 
 practice in the gubernatorial office, however, deplorable. Most of 
 the public corruption may be traced to the apathy, incapacity, and 
 faithlessness of our state governors. Again, in this constitution 
 nothing is wanting to make the governor of the state of New 
 York an effective officer. And if I claim entire independence for 
 the subdivisions of the state in regard to their own constitutional 
 business sphere, I am far from asking for them an exemption 
 from the supreme executive and state control, plainly defined in 
 this article. 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 Administrative. Secretary of State. Comptroller. Treasurer. At- 
 torney-General. Election. Salary. English Circumlocution. Proper 
 Administrators. American System. Representative and Non-Repre- 
 sentative Officers. State Engineer. Surveyor. Canal Commissioners. 
 State-Prison Inspectors. Land Office. Canal Fund. Local In- 
 spectors. 
 
 You are now to become acquainted with the administrative af- 
 fairs of the state. 
 
 ARTICLE V. 
 
 Administrative. 
 
 "1. The secretary of state, comptroller, treasurer, and attorney-general, 
 shall be chosen at a general election, and hold their offices for two years. 
 Each of the officers in this article named (except the speaker of the assem- 
 bly), shall at stated times, during his continuance in office, receive for his 
 
ADMINISTRATIVE. 289 
 
 services a compensation, which shall not be increased or diminished during 
 the term for which he shall have been elected ; nor shall he receive, to his 
 use, any fees or perquisites of office, or other compensation." 
 
 The first three named officials are subordinate to the governor, 
 the fourth belongs to the state judiciary. But there may be differ- 
 ent meanings of the word administration ; to avoid misunderstand- 
 ings, I give you my idea about it. The real administrators of 
 our municipal affairs are only the chief of the state, called gov- 
 ernor ; the chief of the county, called, in my letters, overseer, arid 
 the chief of the town, called mayor, as you will remember from 
 the first part. 
 
 The clerical officials and boards, mentioned in this article, are 
 all subordinate to the several governors or administrators, accord- 
 ing to the nature and order of the business. I well know that 
 the practice differs from what I say, that there is no head in the 
 county and town administration, that the city mayors have no real 
 central governing power, but this is not right. Farmers will 
 think a mayor in their towns a strange novelty, because there is 
 no such officer in old England ; but a sober second thought will 
 convince them, that the government of three selectmen in a town, 
 or of a dozen supervisors in a county, without a responsible head, 
 is one of the causes that villages and cities grow up, requiring 
 charters, and leading to uncontrollable and, therefore, corrupt ad- 
 ministrations. In all well-organized communities there ought to 
 be a responsible, leading, and directing executive, similar to the 
 president in the Union. It is so in the best European states, 
 whose administration is praised by our travellers. History tells 
 sad stories of states ruled by several consuls or kings. I would 
 not take the English municipal administration as a pattern. There 
 you find little else than '" circumlocution." 
 
 These three administrators should be the head-managers of the 
 public affairs in their several districts, and should, therefore, have 
 nothing to do with mere detail office-business. They might 
 serve without a salary; they have to take care that the laws and 
 ordinances are well executed, the business kept in perfect order 
 by the clerks, treasurers, &c., justice well administered, the 
 respective property and interests of their districts faithfully re- 
 presented, managed, and attended to ; in one word, to do all in 
 their power to keep the political organization in those districts in 
 
240 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 a healthful operation. From such a view has been the national 
 public business placed under o?ie responsible head, the president. 
 I wish to be understood, that all I have said on the better organ- 
 ization of the municipal business, is but abstracted from that sys- 
 tem which has been initiated by the federal constitution. If the 
 constitution of the state of New York is to be amended, this ar- 
 ticle, and one on the local officers, will, probably, receive a differ- 
 ent shape, provided the framers of a new constitution will carry 
 out the "American public business system," all that I and, I am 
 sure, the public desire. The subject is full of interest for all 
 thinking citizens. And, happily, we have plenty of such. 
 
 Some may object that I carry my veneration for the federal 
 constitution too far, and that, while a secretary of state may be 
 safely trusted to an election, this officer of the federal government 
 should rather be appointed. I admit that these gentlemen have 
 different business spheres, still that is not the reason why the one 
 should be appointed and the other elected ; they resemble each 
 other for being mere clerical functionaries and not representatives, 
 and, therefore, to be carefully selected for the function. Whether 
 the framers of the federal constitution acted upon these special 
 grounds, or simply imitated other governments, has no influence 
 upon the merits of their policy. 
 
 This policy is a settled fact. People have submitted to it for 
 almost a century, because it is similar to the business order in 
 their households, factories, mercantile establishments, and other 
 well-organized business concerns, and, therefore, plain to their un- 
 derstanding, while the universal elective policy, adopted by this 
 constitution, is a republican extravagancy. 
 
 The political offices may be divided into two classes, viz., re- 
 presentative and clerical. To the first class belong the just-men- 
 tioned head-officers, and the aldermen or selectmen, supervisors, 
 and members of legislature. These should be always elected. 
 To the second class belong all clerks, treasurers, inspectors, col- 
 lectors, surveyors, police, &c., who should all be appointed. I 
 have pointed this out before, as the policy of the federal constitu- 
 tion. 
 
 After we hve elected our ruling officers, we must allow them 
 to appoint the officers, clerks, or assistants, needed for the business. 
 We may have reason sometimes for grumbling that they did not 
 
STATE ENGINEER. 241 
 
 appoint this or that party-man ; still we must, for the time being, 
 submit to that rather than spoil the whole fabric, by reversing the 
 natural order. And if each public district acts in this respect, 
 independently, under the constitution, there never will be more 
 patronage in one hand, than is unavoidably necessary. 
 
 " 2. The state engineer and surveyor shall be chosen at a general election, 
 and shall hold his office two years, but no person shall be elected to said of- 
 fice who is not a practical engineer." 
 
 "3. Three canal commissioners shall be chosen at the general election, 
 which shall be held next after the adoption of this constitution, one of whom 
 shall hold his office for one year, one for two years, and one for three years. 
 [The commissioners of the canal fund shall meet at the capitol on the first 
 Monday of January, next after such election, and determine by lot which of 
 said canal commissioners shall hold his office for one year, which for two, 
 and which for three vears ;] and there shall be elected annually thereafter, 
 one canal commissioner, who shall hold his office for three years." 
 
 All these officers should be appointed. Canals, windmills, and 
 similar works, when drawn into the sphere of political business, 
 should be managed by special acts, and not by the people directly, 
 otherwise they will become political party concerns of the worst 
 kind. 
 
 " 4. Three inspectors of state-prison shall be elected at the general elec- 
 tion, which shall be hold next after the adoption of this constitution, one of 
 whom shall hold his office for one year, one for two years, and one for three 
 years. [The governor, secretary of state, and comptroller shall meet at the 
 camtol on the first Monday of January, next suceeding such election, and 
 determine by lot which of said inspectors shall hold his office for one year, 
 which for two, and which for three years;] and there shall be elected annu- 
 ally thereafter one inspector of state-prison, who shall hold his office for three 
 years ; said inspectors shall have the charge and superintendence of the state- 
 prisons, and shall appoint all the officers therein. All vacancies in the of- 
 fice of such inspectors shall be filled by the governor, till the next election." 
 
 Those officers also should be appointed. 
 
 " 5. The lieutenant-governor, speaker of the assembly, secretary of state, 
 comptroller, treasurer, attorney-general, and state engineer and surveyor, 
 shall be the commissioners of the land office. 
 
 " The lieutenant-governor, speaker of the assembly, secretary of state, 
 comptroller, treasurer, and attorney-general, shall be the commissioners of the 
 canal fund. 
 
 " The canal board shall consist of the commissioners of the canal fund, 
 the state engineer anl surveyor, and the canal commissioners." 
 
 "6. The powers and duties of the respective boards, and of the several of- 
 
 11 
 
242 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 ficers in this article mentioned, shall he such as now are or hereafter may bo 
 prescribed by law." 
 
 The provisoes from one to six, contain matter for special laws. 
 
 " 7. The treasurer may be suspended from office by the governor, during 
 the recess of the legislature, and until thirty days after the commencement 
 of the next session of the legislature, whenever it shall appear to him that 
 such treasurer has, in any particular, violated his duty. The governor shall 
 appoint a competent person to discharge the duties of the office during such 
 suspension of the treasurer/' 
 
 The suspending and removing power should be alike in regard 
 to all officers. 
 
 " 8. All officers for the weighing, guaging, measuring, culling, or inspecting 
 any merchandise, produce, manufacture or commodity whatever, are hereby 
 abolished, and no such office shall hereafter be created by law ; but nothing 
 in this section contained shall abrogate any office created for the purpose of 
 protecting the public health or the interests of the state, in its property, rev- 
 enue, tolls or purchases, or of supplying the people with correct standards 
 of weights and measures, or shall prevent the creation of any office for such 
 purposes hereafter." 
 
 The offices abolished by this clause are all town (city, village) 
 offices, and should, therefore, depend upon town by-laws. In a 
 good judicial system they are superfluous, because there all 
 fraudulent dealing, which it is the aim to prevent by such officials, 
 \vill be effectually checked by the judiciary. Honest men are not 
 in need of them. George Washington's brand was considered at 
 home and abroad sufficient guaranty in regard to quality and 
 quantity. But if in a certain town the corruption of the people 
 and remissness of the judiciary should be alarming (which can 
 only happen in over-large, uncontrollable towns or cities), the bet- 
 ter class of business men may insist upon the appointment of such 
 officials by the magistrate, to keep up the appearance of honesty. 
 Congress have appointed steam-boiler and drug inspectors. They 
 seem to be also superfluous, provided the judiciary be competent 
 to resent culpable carelessness of captains, engineers, importers, 
 dealers in drugs, &c. It would be as wrong to appoint such local- 
 trade inspectors by the state government, as it would be absurd to 
 appoint judges of the court of appeals or state-prison inspectors 
 by town governments. The correct distribution of the functional 
 affairs of society is a main duty of our law-makers. They must 
 follow their own logic and judgment and not English precedents. 
 
JUDICIARY. 243 
 
 Those have, up to this time, hindered the full development of our 
 simple political business-system. We must try to walk alone, 
 as the federal constitution has made us stand up firmly. 
 
 LETTER V Ill- 
 Judiciary. Impenching. Court of Appeals. Supreme Court. Judi- 
 cial Districts. Salary.* Election. Testimony. Removing. Vacan- 
 cies. Modes of appointing Judges. 
 
 YOUR attention will now be devoted to the judiciary, the most 
 important part of the state institution. 
 
 ARTICLE VI. 
 
 The Judiciary. 
 
 "1. The assembly shall have the power of impeachment, by the vote of 
 a majority of all the members elected. The court for the trial of impeach- 
 ments shall be composed of the president of the senate, the senators, or a 
 major part of them, and the judges of the court of appeals, or the major part 
 of them. On the trial of an impeachment against the governor, the lieuten- 
 ant-governor shall not act as a member of the court. No judicial officer shall 
 exercise his office after he shall have been impeached, until he shall have been 
 acquitted. Before the trial of an impeachment, the members of the court 
 shall take an oath or affirmation, truly and impartially to try the impeachment, 
 according to evidence; and no person shall be convicted, without the concur- 
 rence of two thirds of the members present. Judgment in cases of impeach- 
 ment shall not extend farther than to removal from office, or removal from 
 office and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit 
 under this state; but the party impeached shall be liable to indictment and 
 punishment according to law." 
 
 This is plain. 
 
 " 2. There shall be a court of appeals, composed of eight judges, of whom 
 four shall be elected by the electors of the state, for eight years, and four se- 
 lected from the class of justices of the supreme court having the shortest time 
 to serve. Provision shall be made by law, for designating one of the num- 
 ber elected, as chief judge, and for selecting such justices of the supreme 
 court, from time to time, and for so classifying those elected, that one shall 
 be elected every second year. 
 
 "3. There shall be a supi-eme court having general jurisdiction in law and 
 equity." 
 
 The judiciary is, as I have observed often, the very offspring 
 
244 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 and grand purpose of the state organization. We may have 
 plenty of salt springs, roads, canals, telegraphs, railroads, trades, 
 churches, fireworks, illuminations, etc., without a state institution, 
 but no judiciary. It is against the nature of the state to make its 
 child, the judiciary, elective. It is a political monstrosity, espe- 
 cially in a republic, which depends entirely upon the laws and 
 their execution. 
 
 "4. The state shall be divided into eight judicial districts, of which the 
 city of New York shall be one ; the others to be bounded by county lines, 
 and to be compact and equal in population as nearly as may be. There shall 
 be four justices of the supreme court in each district, and as many more in 
 the district composed of the city of New York as may from time to time be 
 authorized by law, but not to exceed in the whole such number in proportion 
 to its population as shall be in conformity with the number of such judges in 
 the residue of the state, in proportion to its population. They shall be clas- 
 sified so that one of the justices of each district shall go out of office at the 
 end of every two years. After the expiration of their terms under such clas- 
 sification, the term of their office shall be eight years/' 
 
 Why not give the business, designated for the supreme courts, 
 to the county courts ? 
 
 " 5. The legislature shall have the same powers to alter and regulate the 
 jurisdiction and proceedings in law and equity as they have heretofore pos- 
 
 Is matter-of-course and superfluous. 
 
 " 6. Provision may be made by law for designating, from time to time, one 
 or more of the said justices, who is not a judge of the court of appeals, to 
 preside at the general terms of the said court to be held in the several districts. 
 Any three or more of the said justices, of whom one of the said justices so 
 designated shall always be one, may hold such general terms. And any one 
 or more of the justices may hold special terms and circuit courts, and any 
 one of them may preside in courts of oyer and terminer in any county." 
 
 The words oyer and terminer mean criminal court. And again, 
 why not assign all important civil and criminal business to the 
 county court ? The clause, itself, belongs rather to the statute 
 book. 
 
 "7. The judges of the court of appeals and justices of the supreme court 
 shall severally receive, at stated times, for their services, a compensation to 
 be established by law, which shall not be increased or diminished during their 
 continuance in office. 
 
 " 8. They shall not hold any other office or public trust. All votes for 
 cither of them, for any elective office (except that of justice of the supreme 
 court, or judge of the court of appeals), given by the legislature or the peo- 
 ple, shall be void. They shall not exercise any power of appointment to 
 
SUPREME COURT. 245 
 
 public office. Any male citizen of the age of twenty-one yenrs, of good 
 moral character, and who possesses the requisite qualifications of learning 
 and ability, shall be entitled to admission to practice in all the courts of this 
 state. 
 
 " 9. The classification of the justices of the supreme court ; the times and 
 place of holding the terms of the court of appeals, and of the general and 
 special terms of the supreme court within the several districts, and the circuit 
 courts and courts of oyer and terminer within the several counties, shall be 
 provided for by law." 
 
 Is mostly special-law matter. 
 
 " 1 0. The testimony in equity cases shall be taken in like manner as in 
 cases at law." 
 
 Special-law and matter of course. 
 
 "11. Justices of the supreme court and judges of the court of appeals may 
 be removed by concurrent resolution of both houses of the legislature, if two 
 thirds of the members elected to the assembly, and a majority of all the mem- 
 bers elected to the senate concur therein. All judicial officers, except those 
 mentioned in this section, and except justices of the peace, judges and justices 
 of inferior courts not of record, may be removed by the senate, on the recom- 
 mendation of the governor ; but no removal shall be made by virtue of this 
 section, unless the cause thereof be entered on the journals, nor unless the 
 party complained of shall have been served with a copy of the complaint 
 against him, and shall have had an opportunity of being heard in his defence. 
 On the question of removal, the ayes and noes shall be entered on the journals* 
 
 " 12. The judges of the court of appeals shall be elected by the electors of 
 the state, and the justices of the supreme court by the electors of the several 
 judicial districts, at such times as may be prescribed by law. 
 
 " 13. In case the office of any judge of the court of appeals, or justice of 
 the supreme court, shall become vacant before the expiration of the regular 
 term for which he was elected, the vacancy may be filled by appointment by 
 the governor, until it shall be supplied at the next general election of judges, 
 when it shall be filled by election for the residue of the unexpired term." 
 
 The clauses twelve and thirteen will fall with the present sys- 
 tem. If the judges in the several districts are appointed during 
 good behavior, a special law, prescribing the forms of appointing 
 and removing, will be required, wherein should be a clause or- 
 daining that a judge who takes the stump, as the phrase is, at 
 elections, should be removed at once. The honor and impar- 
 tiality of the office require such a law. 
 
 There are two ways of making judges^; one by election of 
 this I have spoken ; the other by appointment.- And then we 
 may appoint therefor a number of years, or during good behavior, 
 as it is called. The federal constitution has adopted the system 
 
246 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 of appointing the judges during good behavior. This has made 
 the federal judiciary honored and respected. It is the only good 
 system. A judge is but a man. If he occupies his place during 
 good behavior, people may be well assured that he will act his 
 part faithfully, and at a reasonable compensation, too. If elected 
 or appointed for a short tenure, society must be prepared for his 
 making the most out of his term, by unreasonable salary, fees, and 
 other means. In our states, with elective legislatures and execu- 
 tives, with publicity of the court transactions, reporters, free press, 
 etc., there is not the least danger that a judge, even serving for 
 life, will ever assume undue power, because he has no power be- 
 yond that of investigating certain cases coming under his cogni- 
 zance. This system secures, moreover, impartial justice. This 
 we can never expect, in the same measure, from the other modes. 
 It is a strange contradiction in a simple political system like ours, 
 made by the people for the people, to have two kinds of judiciaries. 
 If we wish to be considered as consistent, we should not make an 
 appointed judiciary in the Union arid an elective one in the states. 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 County Judge. Webster. Surrogate. Local Officers. Inferior Courts. 
 Justices of the Peace. Clerks. Files to be sent into thf Court of 
 Appeal. Publication of Statutes. Code of Procedure. Tribunals 
 of Conciliation. Revising Laws. Systems of Judiciary. 
 
 THE following clause contains useful prescriptions, which, how- 
 ever, could be also partly inserted into the statute book : 
 
 " 14. There shall be elected in each of the counties of this state, except the 
 city and county of New York, one county judge, who shall hold his office for 
 four years. He shall hold the county court, and perform the duties of the 
 office of surrogate. The county court shall have such jurisdiction in cases 
 arising in justices' courts, and in special cases, as the legislature may pre- 
 scribe, but shall have no original civil jurisdiction, except in such special 
 cases. 
 
 " The county judge, with two justices of the peace, to be designated ac- 
 cording to law, may hold courts of sessions with such criminal jurisdiction as 
 the legislature shall prescribe, and perform such othe**duties as may be re- 
 quired by law. 
 
LOCAL OFFICERS. 247 
 
 " The county judge shall receive an annual salary, to be fixed by the board 
 of supervisors, which sh 11 be neither increased nor diminished during his 
 continuance in office. The justices of the peace, for services in courts of 
 sessions, shall be paid a per diem allowance out of the county treasury. 
 
 "In counties having a population exceeding forty thousand, the legislature 
 may provide for the election of a separate officer to perform the duties of the 
 office of surrogate. 
 
 " The legislature may confer equity jurisdiction in special cases upon the 
 county judge. 
 
 " Inferior local courts, of civil and criminal jurisdiction, may be established 
 by the legislature in cities ; and such courts, except for the cities of New 
 York and Buffalo, shall have an uniform organization and jurisdiction in 
 such cities." 
 
 Accordingly each county, New York county excepted, shall 
 have but one judge. This is an excellent idea, provided this 
 county court is well organized, of which more in the following let- 
 ter. In like manner, might one justice of the peace, or town 
 judge, be sufficient for all town judicial business. This seems to 
 be answering to the idea of Daniel Webster, that, to get good 
 judges, we should employ them well. The present dilapidation 
 of the judicial business, among a great number of special officials, 
 seems not to agree with this idea. The duty of the legislature 
 should then be to keep the- districts in proper size. 
 
 ' 15. The legislature may, on application of the board of supervisors, pro- 
 vide for the election of local officers, not to exceed two in any county, to dis- 
 charge the duties of county judge and of surrogate in cases of their inability, 
 or of 'a vacancy, and to exercise such other powers in special cases as may 
 be provided by law." 
 
 Rather belongs to a special act. But you read again in these 
 clauses, " en passant," of supervisors. They are at the head of 
 the county government; and, if this district is well organized, 
 among the most important officers, in regard to the judiciary es- 
 pecially, and should therefore derive their power from the con- 
 stitution. 
 
 " 16. The legislature may reorganize the judicial districts at the first ses- 
 sion, after the return of every enumeration, under this constitution, in the 
 manner provided for in the fourth section of this article, and at no other time ; 
 and they may, at such session, increase or diminish the number of districts, 
 b it such increase or diminution shall not be more than one district at any 
 one time. Each district shall have four justices of the supreme court; but 
 no diminution of the districts shall have the effect to remove a judge from 
 office. 
 
248 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 I do not believe thai such districts for supreme courts are, in- 
 deed, needed. 
 
 "17. The electors of the several towns shall, at their annual town meet- 
 ing, and in such manner as the legislature may direct, elect justices of the 
 peace, whose term of office shall be four years. In case of an election to fill 
 a vacancy occurring before the expiration of a full term, they shall hold for 
 the residue of the unexpired term. Their number and classification may be 
 regulated by law. Justices of the poace and judges or justices of inferior 
 courts, not of record, and their clerks, may be removed (after due notice and 
 an opportunity of being heard in their defence) by such county, city, or 
 state courts as may be prescribed by law, for causes to be assigned in the 
 order of rein oval. 
 
 " 18. All judicial officers of cities and villages, and all such judicial officers 
 as may be created therein by law, shall be elected at such times and in such 
 manner as the legislature may direct." 
 
 The justices of the peace are the cause of the word "town" oc- 
 curring in the constitution. The justices of the peace should be 
 appointed with the greatest care, for they are in importance second 
 to none. The modern police courts seem to supersede them in 
 large cities. The other particulars are special-law matters. 
 
 " 19. The clerks of the several counties of this state shall be clerks of the 
 supreme court, with such powers and duties as shall be prescribed by law. 
 A clerk for the court of appeals to be ex-officio clerk of the supreme court, 
 and to keep his office at the seat of government, shall be chosen by the elec- 
 tors of the state ; he shall hold his office for three years, and his compensa- 
 tion shall be fixed by law and paid out of the public treasury. 
 
 "20. No judicial officer, except justices of the peace, shall receive 4x> his 
 own use any fees or perquisites of office." 
 
 Special-law matter. All such things vary constantly. 
 "21. The legislature may authorize the judgments, decrees, and decisions 
 of any local inferior court of record of original civil jurisdiction, established 
 in a city, to removed for a review directly into the court of appeals." 
 
 Special-law matter. All public papers belonging to the state, 
 counties, towns, cities, and villages, whenever they are officially 
 needed, must be sent without an extra authorization. 
 
 "22. The legislature shall provide for the speedy publication of all statute 
 laws, and of such judicial decisions as it may deem expedient. And all 
 laws and judicial decisions shall be free for publication by any person." 
 
 Superfluous, being a matter-of-course fact. 
 
 "23. Tribunals of conciliation may be established, with such powers and 
 duties as may be prescribed by law; but such tribunals shall have no power 
 to render judgment to be obligatory on the parties, except they voluntarily 
 submit their matters in difference and agree to abide the judgment or assent 
 
CODE OF PROCEDURE. 249 
 
 thereto, in the presence of such tribunal, in such cases as shall be prescribed 
 
 by law." 
 
 Superfluous, for it is the very best part of the office of a justice 
 of the peace to prevent litigation by promoting conciliation, and 
 if there is a special law necessary in this regard, it may be enacted. 
 This may even ordain that no court shall proceed with a lawsuit, 
 unless the case has been before a justice of the peace to promote 
 a conciliation. 
 
 " 24. The legislature, at its first session after the adoption of this constitu- 
 tion, shall provide for the appointment of three commissioners, whose duty 
 it shall be to revise, reform, simplify, and abridge the rules and practice, 
 pleadings, forms, and proceedings of the courts of record of this state, and 
 to report thereon to the legislature, subject to their adoption and modification 
 from time to time." 
 
 This is evidence that there is no code of procedure existing 
 upon which neither courts nor lawyers may have the least influ- 
 ence. We want one containing all the rules invariably to be ob- 
 served by the bench and bar. The pleasure of the king and 
 aula regis must cease. All stages of a law procedure should be 
 prescribed in an explicit, distinct manner, that no stays, or delays, 
 or prevarications can happen, except at the risk of the delaying 
 party. The present procrastination policy should come to an end. 
 We should never read again of conventions of judges talking 
 about the rules of the new term, to suit themselves. Of this trou- 
 ble they should be relieved by a code of procedure, for all terms 
 to come. The English judiciary is preeminently procrastinating 
 and unreliable, because it is too independent in regard to the forms 
 of the legal procedures. These must be paramount for all con- 
 cerned. Apropos the system of court-terms should be abol- 
 ished ; the whole year should be one term, while each cause may 
 have appointed terms. As long as there is business it should be 
 promptly despatched. 
 
 "25. The legislature, at its first session after the adoption of this consti- 
 tution, shall provide for the organization of the court of appeals, and for 
 transferring ro it the business pending in the court for the correction of errors, 
 and for the allowance of writs of error and appeals to the court of appeals, 
 from the judgment and decrees of the present court of chancery and supreme 
 court, and of the courts that may be organized under this constitution." 
 
 A court for the correction of errors is practically the same as a 
 court of appeals. A court of chancery is set up for the despatch 
 
 11* 
 
250 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 of cases in equity. Both those obsolete institutions are abolished, 
 and very wisely. Oyer and terminer, surrogate, sessions, marine, 
 superior, and supreme courts, with special and general terms, 
 should be abolished too. But more of this in the following letter. 
 
 In seventeen states the judiciary is entirely elective by the peo- 
 ple, as in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Florida, 
 Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Michi- 
 gan, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, and California. 
 These states are of modern origin or have by late amendments 
 adopted the elective system. In Maine, Vermont, and Alabama, 
 the higher courts are appointed, and the lower elective. In eight 
 states, as New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Delaware, 
 North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Arkansas, the judi- 
 ciary is appointed by the governor, with the advice of the councils 
 or legislatures, or by the legislatures, during good behavior, or for 
 a certain term of years. Those constitutions which were enacted 
 a short time after the revolution, have followed the system of the 
 federal constitution and created good judiciaries. 
 
 The state of New York, by making the judiciary elective, has 
 set the precedent for the remaining states. Those organized since 
 1847 have followed it. Several states priorly organized have, by 
 amendment, or change of constitution, adopted it ; among others, 
 Maryland, of which I shall add a few remarks hereafter. 
 
 " The maintenance of the judicial power is essential and indis- 
 pensable to the very being of this government. The constitution 
 without it would be no constitution ; the government no govern- 
 ment. The judicial power is the protecting power of the whole 
 government. For the security of the government, the judiciary 
 included, it requires such an extraordinary union of discretion and 
 firmness, of ability and moderation, that nothing in the country is 
 too distinguished for sober sense, or too gifted with powerful talent, 
 to fill the situations belonging to it." 
 
 So spoke Daniel Webster in Congress. You will thank me for 
 inserting this sentence. 
 
ENGLISH JUDICIARY. 251 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 Remarks on the Organization of the Judiciary in States, Counties, and Tc wns 
 in general. English Judiciary. Bad Legislation. Daniel O'Connell. 
 
 Aula Regis.- Reform by the Federal Constitution-. District, Circuit, 
 and Supreme Courts. Municipal Judicial Business, Civil or Criminal. 
 Its Distribution among Towns, Counties, and States. Abolition of .the 
 present Single Judicial Offices. Reasons for it. Webster. Moses. 
 Solon. Justinian. Napoleon I. Frederick II. Joseph II. Russell. 
 
 Thompson. Brady. Law. 
 
 THE judicial forms or proceedings, to find out what is right or 
 wrong, by means of documents, witnesses, etc., are very simple 
 and but little changing with the culture or moral and intellectual 
 progress of mankind. Colonies generally adopt or rather main- 
 tain the laws and judicial forms of the mother-country. This 
 has been the case in the United States. Still the simple form of 
 democratic government required many important alterations in the 
 old complicated English judicial system, which is a venerable relic 
 of the middle age, and at present rather a mere useless antiqua- 
 rian curiosity. Its foibles have often been exposed on both sides 
 of the Atlantic. The great lawyer, Daniel O'Connell, betrayed 
 a very poor idea of the English law when he said that he could 
 drive through any act of parliament with a coach-and-four. 
 Beautiful sport for rogues ! A law-reform movement is just on 
 foot in England : let us not be behind. 
 
 A close scrutiny of the present English system of bail, inter- 
 pretation, and conviction, mostly based upon the testimony of wit- 
 nesses, must convince an unprejudiced mind that it is generally 
 eminently in favor of villany. I am as jealous of my personal 
 liberty as any person can be, but feel very nervous if this jeal- 
 ousy, which every freeman should possess, is made the pretext of 
 setting murderers, incendiaries, and similar dangerous criminals 
 free on mere straw-bail, because a witness could not be had, or 
 on similar irrelevant grounds. We ow r e it to this system that it 
 is unsafe to appear unarmed in public, just as if there was no state 
 
252 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 institution at all. There is still a difference in this regard between 
 cities and country towns, but it grows less very fast. 
 
 The political destiny of the United States was brought to a 
 bloody crisis by bad English legislation. This lesion has obvi- 
 ously improved the destiny of our neighbors, the Canadians, but 
 not that of the far-off East Indians ; hence the bloody outbreak 
 there, most critical for Great Britain's national career. "We are 
 indebted to bad legislation and execution of the laws for all our 
 home troubles. The sensible reader will therefore excuse the 
 outspoken manner in which I write of English law. Through it 
 runs the maxim, like the red thread through the royal navy, that 
 the king is all the judge and court for the whole kingdom. He, 
 like his colleagues in Europe, travelled in the country in old 
 times for this purpose, with some courtiers, barons, judges, etc., 
 and of course he did as he pleased. Soon dukes, barons, bishops, 
 etc., got slices of the royal jurisdiction ; substitutes (surrogates) 
 were appointed ; and in consequence of the Magna Charta a stable 
 royal court was established in Westminster Hall, called aula regis, 
 that is, king's court. Later this court was divided into the courts 
 of exchequer (so called from a checkered table-cloth), common 
 pleas, and king's bench, to which was added the court of chancery 
 and house of lords. Again there happened a split, so that the 
 people got seven courts of exchequer. Following up this manner 
 of patching up a judiciary, there came later, admiralty courts 
 county, sessions, ecclesiastical, coroners' courts, etc. The common 
 source of this organization was the king and his pleasure. He 
 of course had the original jurisdiction, that is, with full formal 
 trials later prescribed by law, required by the importance of the 
 cases. The court hierarchy went from the throne down to the 
 people. Some of these forms we have retained with the English 
 common law, but much of it has already been discarded. Still 
 our courts wield much of the " pleasure " of the king. 
 
 The most important reform in this regard produced the federal 
 constitution, and the judiciary which it created, absorbing a good 
 deal of the common or original English state-judicial business. This 
 organic law made a great division between national and municipal 
 judicial business, never before done in this manner by such a 
 law or a government, and organized for the first time a separate 
 national judiciary, at once breaking up the usual British judicial 
 
NATIONAL JUDICIARY. 253 
 
 hierarchy. You will recollect that the third article of the federal 
 constitution contains in a few concise words the dispositions about 
 the national judiciary. The business is at present, if I am not 
 mistaken, distributed among forty-eight districts, ten circuit courts, 
 and one supreme court. 
 
 From the constitution of the state of New York you have just 
 learned how the judicial business remaining for the state shall be 
 despatched, viz., by a court of appeals, eight supreme courts, su- 
 perior courts, surrogates, county courts, justices of the peace, 
 city courts, coroners, police courts, oyer and terminer courts, ma- 
 rine courts, court of sessions, etc. This machinery, according to 
 unmistakable symptoms, has not worked well : and why is this ? 
 because our state constitution has not carried out the policy adopted 
 by the framers of the federal constitution, viz : to organize the 
 judiciary and set up the courts strictly according to the natural 
 logical exigency of the remaining municipal judicial business, 
 and not according to dogmatical or historical notions of law and 
 equity cases, original and not original jurisdiction, and other old 
 English cu.-toms. 
 
 Simply considering the usual judicial business as it is, we have 
 either civil or criminal cases, so that we want civil and criminal 
 courts. The civil cases are more or less important. A subdivi- 
 sion takes place in the criminal judicial business, now generally 
 called police business. To organize this business, the common 
 division of the state into towns and counties seems to answer per- 
 fectly well for all practical purposes. 
 
 The minor civil and criminal or police cases might be despatched 
 in the towns by a town judge or justice of the peace carefully 
 appointed for each town. In regard to claims, the amount gene- 
 rally serves as a measure, perhaps two hundred dollars. All 
 trials of reconciliation also naturally belong to the town court. 
 
 Business not belonging to the town court should be apportioned 
 to the county court, with one judge, as the constitution ordains. 
 All judges appointed now for single business branches should be 
 abolished. The county court might serve as a court of appeals 
 in regard to decisions of the town court. Besides, a state court 
 will be required for appeals from the county courts, and the claims 
 against the state, and on the constitutionality of laws, etc. Some 
 cities will require more than one town court ; still not more than 
 
254 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 one county court. Very large cities will receive exceptional at- 
 tention. The diverse appointments should, as I have before inti- 
 mated, originate with the town, county, and state executives arid 
 legislative bodies; because they either have the care for the exe- 
 cution of the laws or hold the purse-strings in their hands. Such 
 a simple, logical distribution of the municipal judicial business 
 recommends itself to the general attention 
 
 First. In regard to the responsibility of the town and county, 
 which, by their constitutional agents, appoint the judges. They 
 being sworn in to attend to the interests of the town or county, 
 will appreciate the importance of the act the more seriously because 
 it does not often occur. Of such a highly desirable responsibility 
 there is not the least vestige in the elective system. Town and 
 county agents are amenable to law, and not to parties who control 
 the elections. 
 
 Second. In regard to the qualifications of the judges. A can- 
 didate for a county or town judgeship knows that he will occupy 
 the office as long as he fills it ably. He will therefore thoroughly 
 prepare himself for the bench, not even shunning expensive out- 
 lays for this purpose. 
 
 Third. In regard to the business. First it will be managed 
 with ability, talent, and impartiality ; second, with honesty and 
 decorum. The proposed combination of the present dilapidated 
 civil, criminal, and police business will keep the judges in their 
 districts well employed, and therefore ripen and sharpen their 
 judgment in deciding causes. Being prohibited from taking a 
 share in other employments, such a judge will be wholly a judge, 
 always a judge, and nothing but a judge, as Webster desired 
 might be the case. 
 
 This also applies to the state court. Of course these three 
 courts should all be courts of record, and. in a word, perform all 
 the business at present divided among a swarm of special judicial 
 officials, producing confusion, scandalous feuds among them for 
 business, and a deplorable degradation of this most honorable 
 function. A good impartial judiciary is all the model republic 
 we may boast of. I add that a state of the improper size of New 
 York requires at least four state courts for corresponding districts ; 
 while well-proportioned Connecticut requires but one. 
 
 History teaches that only those rulers who are distinguished as 
 
WEBSTER MOSES SOLON NAPOLEON. 255 
 
 good legislators and administrators of justice acquire lasting fame 
 and celebrity. To say nothing of Moses, Solon, and Justinian, it 
 is obvious that Napoleon I. has endeared himself to the better 
 class of Frenchmen, not so well by his gained and lost battles, and 
 imperial ambitious schemes, as by his good law-codes and an ex- 
 cellent organization of the judiciary. By similar acls of true 
 statesmanship before him, Frederick II., of Prussia, and Joseph 
 II., of Austria, acquired the appellation of great and good princes. 
 It is their work that these empires still exist and enjoy esteem 
 and credit under most trying vicissitudes. I am sorry that I can 
 not point out a single one of our states which excels in this regard. 
 StilJ, in our smaller states the administration of justice is better 
 than in the larger. People faithful to an inborn instinct love and 
 honor justice, notwithstanding. They cheerfully erect public halls 
 for her service ; they adorn them with statuary and pictures ; they 
 fill them with libraries. The goddess of justice, with covered 
 eyes, to prevent biasing by personalities or gold, with the balance, 
 the symbol of equity and righteousness in one hand, and with the 
 sword for the strong arm of the executor in the other, thrones 
 upon our splendid piles and court-halls. Still, what contain the 
 daily reports of the administration of justice beneath their roofs, 
 by their sworn priests ? Says Judge Russell in New York, in his 
 address to the grand jury : " It is probable that at this term you 
 will encounter some alleged offences which the law is impotent to 
 reach, and others that, where the law is sufficient by reason of 
 the present practice, motion upon motion and appeal upon appeal 
 may be resorted to, so that the court is rendered impotent to pun- 
 ish. It is the bane of our system, that while the friendless crim- 
 inals almost step from the stationhouse to the state-prison, others, 
 who have able counsel and friendly bail, may badger justice be- 
 yond the power of the most indefatigable district-attorney, or the 
 most industrious judge to prevent." Similar pithy addresses we 
 often notice. I refer to one of Judge Thompson, in Baltimore, 
 and of Mr. Brady, in memory of Justice Duer. 
 
 We need a revival in the direction of justice. Let us hope 
 that the proposed revision of the constitution of the leading state 
 will rouse the people and bring out a thorough reform of the 
 judiciary. Then will Maryland and other states follow in the wake. 
 
 " We may traverse sea and land on the wings of lightning ; we 
 
256 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 may cover the globe with a network of railways ; our canals may 
 be as the highways of the waters ; but without that silent, ger- 
 minating, sustaining principle, LAW, all our labor, skill, energy, 
 learning, and treasure, will be of little avail, except it be to keep 
 up and adorn the general ruin." 
 
 The "amici curial" may then bestir themselves. 
 
 LETTER XI. 
 
 Finance. Revenues of the State Canals. Sinking Fund. General Fund 
 Debt. State Stock Loaned to Incorporated Companies. Selling 
 Canals. 
 
 WE now come to the finances. 
 
 ARTICLE VII. 
 
 Finance. 
 
 * 
 
 " 1. After paying the expenses of collection, superintendence, and ordinary 
 re | airs there shall be appropriated and set apart in each fiscal year, out of the 
 revenues of the state canals, commencing on the first day of June, 1846, the 
 sum of one million and three hundred thousand dollars, until the first, day of 
 June, 1855, and from that time, the sum of one million and seven hundred 
 thousand dollars in each fiscal year, as a sinking fund, to pay the interest 
 and redeem the principal of that part of the state debt called the canal debt, 
 as it existed t the time aforesaid, and including three hundred thousand 
 dollars then to be borrowed until the same shall be wholly paid ; and the 
 principal and income of the said sinking fund shall be sacredly applied to 
 that purpose. 
 
 This article treats mostly of the income derived from the 
 canals, an object which, originally, has as little connection with 
 the political organization of the society, as the fire police, the 
 regulations of which filled a large chapter of the old constitution, 
 and rests entirely upon special legislation, and private speculation 
 of the government, which, thus far, ceases to be government, and 
 steps down into the arena of private life. If a government sees 
 fit to make money by building canals, manufacturing salt, snuff, 
 china, etc., etc., and is not expressly forbidden to meddle with 
 such business, it should lay down the rules for such things in 
 special laws, just as manufacturers or railroad companies do. 
 
* 
 
 SINKING FUND. 257 
 
 That such special laws of a legislature should be observed 
 sacredly by the legislature itself, is, indeed, very desirable, and a 
 matter of course. But, what shall be done with this proviso and 
 the following, if the canals do not pay, a thing which happens at 
 present ? 
 
 The federal government spends immense sums annually, has 
 paid up many millions of debts, keeps an army and navy at an 
 expense of some twenty millions of dollars, and does this all in 
 virtue of two very short paragraphs, namely, clause 18, art. I, 
 sect, viii., and clause 7, sect. ix. of the same article. Some such 
 dispositions, inserted into this state constitution, would have an- 
 swered all reasonable purposes. How shall the officers sacredly 
 manage this fund if the canals bring no revenue ? They must 
 borrow, or violate the constitution, of course. 
 
 " 2. After complying with the provisions of the first section of this article, 
 there shall be appropriated and set apart out of the surplus revenues of the 
 state canals, in each fiscal year, commencing on the first day of June, 
 1846, the sum of three hundred and fifty thousand dollars, until the time 
 when a sufficient sum shall have been appropriated and set apart, under the 
 said first section, to pay the interest and extinguish the entire principal of the 
 canal debt ; and after that period then the sum of one- million and five hun- 
 dred thousand dollars in each fiscal year, as a sinking fund, to pay the inte- 
 rest and redeem the principal of that part of the state debt called the general 
 fund debt, including the debt for loans of the state credit to railroad com- 
 panies which have failed to pay the interest thereon, and also the contingent 
 debt on state stocks loaned to incorporated companies which have hitherto 
 paid the interest thereon whenever and as far as any part thereof may become 
 a charge on the treasury or general fund, until the same shall be wholly paid ; 
 and the principal and income of the said last mentioned sinking fund shall be 
 sacredly applied to the purpose aforesaid ; and if the payment of any part of 
 the moneys to the said sinking fund shall at any time be deferred, by reason 
 of the priority recognized in the first section of this article, the sum so defer- 
 red, with quarterly interest thereon, at the then current rate, shall be paid to 
 the last-mentioned sinking fund, as soon as it can be done consistently with 
 the just rights of the creditors holding said canal debt. 
 
 " 3. After paying the said expenses of superintendence and repairs of the 
 canals, and the sum appropriated by the first and second sections of this arti- 
 cle, there shall be paid out of the surplus revenues of the canals to the treas- 
 urv of the state, on or before the thirteenth day of September, in each year, 
 for the use and benefit of the general fund, such sum, not exceeding two hun- 
 dred thousand dollars, as may be required to defray the necessary expenses 
 of the state; and the remainder of the revenues of the said canals shall, in 
 each fiscal year, be applied, in such manner as the legislature shall direct, to 
 
2;~> 8 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 the completion of the Erie canal enlargement, and the Genesee Valley and 
 Black River canals, until the said canals shall be completed. 
 
 " If at any time after the period of eight years from the adoption of this 
 constitution, the revenues of the state unappropriated by this article, shall 
 not be sufficient to defray the necessary expenses of the government, with- 
 out continuing or laying a direct, tax, the legislature may, at its discre- 
 tion, supply the deficiency, in whole or in part, from the surplus revenues of 
 the canals, after complying with the provisions of the first two sections of this 
 article, for paying the interest and extinguishing the principal of the canal 
 and general fund debt ; but the sum thus appropriated from the surplus reve- 
 nues of the canal shall not exceed annuallv three hundred and fifty thousand 
 dollars, including the sum of two hundred thousand dollars, provided for by 
 this section for the expenses of the government, until the general fund debt 
 shall be extinguished, or until the Erie canal enlargement and Gem-see 
 Valley and Black River canals shall be completed, find after that debt shall 
 be paid, or the said canals shall be completed, then the sum of six hundred 
 and seventy-two thousand five hundred dollars, or so much thereof as shall 
 be necessary, may be annually appropriated to defray the expenses of the 
 government." 
 
 Those provisoes belong to a statute-book. 
 
 " 4. The claims of the state against any incorporated company to pay the 
 inter-st and redeem the principal of the stock of the state loaned or advanced 
 to such companv, shall be fairly enforced, and not released or compromised; 
 and the moneys arising from such claims shall be set apart and applied as 
 part of the sinking fund provided in the second section of this article. But 
 the time limited for the fulfilment of any condition of any release or compro- 
 mise heretofore made or provided for, may be extended by law." 
 
 Are officers in New York state in the habit of acting unfairly? 
 The policy of loaning public money or credit to private individu- 
 als is bad ; it is still worse to put such a proviso in the constitu- 
 tion. 
 
 " 5. If the sinking funds, or either of them provided in this article, shall 
 prove insufficient to enable the state on the credit of such fund, to procure 
 the means to satisfy the claims of the creditors of the state, as they become 
 payable, the legislature shall, by equitable taxes, so increase the revenues of 
 the said funds as to make them, respectively, sufficient perfectly to preserve 
 the public faith. Every contribution or advance to the canals, or their debt, 
 from any source, other than their direct revenues sh;ill, with quarterly in- 
 terest, at the rates then current, be repaid into the treasury, for the use of the 
 state, out of the canal revenues, as soon as it can be done consistently with 
 the just rights of the creditors holding the said canal debts." 
 
 All special-law business. 
 
 " 6. The legislature sh;dl not sell, lease, or otherwise dispose of --ny of the 
 canals of the state ; but they shall remain the property of the state arid under 
 its management for ever." 
 
STATE CANALS. 259 
 
 This is, indeed, a bold, grasping, disposition, barring the action of 
 statesmen and people for all generations to come. There were rail- 
 roads in operation when this clause was written and printed ! I 
 am far from imputing to its authors any other intention than that 
 to raise money to defray the government's expense with. Still 
 this operation is inseparable from a peculiar party canal-policy, 
 patronage, and sundry items comprised by the word public cor- 
 ruption. The sooner they are sold the better. Canals have had 
 their time, especially when managed by governments. In this re- 
 spect also, should the federal constitution have served as a pattern. 
 
 Arsenals are most certainly establishments closely in connection 
 with the common defence, navy, etc. Still the constitution no- 
 where says that the arsenals shall remain the property of the 
 Union for ever, and never be sold, etc. In our time Congress 
 disposed of one in Memphis, and may sell them all to-morrow, if 
 not any more needed for the common defences. Or, do the people 
 of the state of New York require canals eternally for the ends of 
 municipal justice, as Congress is in need of arsenals for the navy, 
 a branch of the executive power, inseparable from a national gov- 
 ernment ? 
 
 Think of such subjects earnestly, because they are a principal 
 cause of the prevalent public corruption. Demagogues, however, 
 will stick to the present practice of our governments, to meddle 
 with private business, as long as they can, because it is lucrative 
 for them, and strengthens the party ties. There is a thorough 
 reform necessary. May the revision of the constitution bring it. 
 
260 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 Salt Springs. Appropriation Laws. State Credit. Borrowing Money. 
 Invasion. Debt Laws. Voting upon. 
 
 THE following proviso is similar to that concerning canals : 
 
 " 7. The legislature shall never sell or dispose of the salt springs belonging 
 to this state.* The land contiguous thereto, and which may be necessary and 
 convenient for the use of the salt springs, may be sold by authority of law, 
 and under the direction of the commissioners of the land office, for the pur- 
 pose of investing the moneys arising therefrom in other lands alike conven- 
 ient ; but by such sale and purchase the aggregate quantity of these lands 
 shall not be diminished." 
 
 It is superfluous to tell you my opinion about this clause; it 
 belongs not to the constitution, and is a political error ; besides, 
 governments are bad salt manufacturers. 
 
 " 8. No moneys shall ever be paid out of the treasury of this state, or any 
 of its funds, or any of the funds under its management, except in pursuance 
 of an appropriation by law; nor unless such payment be made within two 
 years next after the passage of such appropriation act ; and every such law 
 making a new appropriation, or continuing or reviving an appropriation, 
 shall distinctly specify the sum appropriated, and the object to which it is to 
 be appplied ; and it shall not be sufficient for such law to refer to any other 
 law to fix such sum." 
 
 There is no better proviso on this subject than that found in 
 the Fed. Const, clause 7, sect, vii., art. I. 
 
 " 9. The credit of the state shall not, in any manner, be given or loaned 
 to, or in aid of any individual, association, or corporation." 
 
 This is very just, and a matter-of-course, because states are no 
 money brokers or bankers. 
 
 " 10. The state may, to meet casual deficits or failures in revenues, or for 
 expenses not provided for, contract debts, but such debts, direct and contin- 
 gent, singly or in the aggregate, shall not, at any time, exceed one million 
 of dollars ; and the moneys arising from the loans creating such debts, shall 
 be applied to the purpose for which they were obtained, or to repay the debt 
 so contracted, and to no other purpose whatever." 
 
 It is utterly impossible that, if our states have nothing to do 
 
STATE DEBTS. 261 
 
 with speculations and improper business, they will ever be in need 
 of borrowing money, for there can not happen a deficit. 
 
 "11. In addition to the above limited power to contract debts, the state 
 may contract debts to repel invasion, suppress insurrection, or defend the 
 state in war; but the money arising from the contracting of such debts shall 
 be applied to the purpose for which it was raised, or to repay such debts, 
 and to no other purpose whatever." 
 
 This seems to be superfluous under our federal constitution, 
 because expenses for the mentioned events Congress has to bear. 
 
 "12. Except the debts specified in the tenth and eleventh sections of this 
 article, no debt shall hereafter be contracted by or on behalf of this state, un- 
 less such debt shall be authorized by a law for some single work or object, to 
 be distinctly specified therein, and such law shall impose and provide for the 
 collection of a direct annual tax to pay, and sufficient to pay the interest on 
 such debt as it falls due, and also to pay and discharge the principal of such 
 debt within eighteen years from the time of the contracting thereof. 
 
 " No such law shall take effect until it shall, at a general election, have 
 been submitted to the people, and have received a majority of all the votes 
 cast for and against it at such election. 
 
 " On the final passage of such bill in either house of the legislature, the 
 question shall be taken by ayes and noes, to be duly entered on the journals 
 thereof, arid shall be : ' Shall this bill pass, and ought the same to receive 
 the sanction of the people ?' 
 
 " The legislature may at any time, after the approval of such law by the 
 people, if no debt shall have been contracted in pursuance thereof, repeal the 
 same ; and may, at any time, by law, forbid the contracting of any farther 
 debt or liability under such law ; but the tax imposed by such act, in pro- 
 portion to the debt and liability which may have been contracted in pur- 
 suance of such law, shall remain in force and be irrepealable, and be an- 
 nually collected until the proceeds thereof shall have made the provision 
 hereinbefore specified to pay and discharge the interest and principal of such 
 debt and liability. 
 
 " The money arising from any loan or stock creating such debt or liability 
 shall be applied to the work or object specified in the act authorizing such 
 debt or liability, or for the repayment of such debt or liability, and for no 
 other purpose whatever. 
 
 " No such law shall be submitted to be voted on within three months after 
 its passage, or at any general election, when any other law or any bill or 
 any amendment to the constitution shall be submitted to be voted for or 
 against." 
 
 There is no " single work or object" imaginable which a real 
 good state government has to undertake besides what belongs to 
 the state establishment itself. Most of the state burdens are borne 
 either by Congress or the towns and counties. The whole clause 
 
262 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 should not occur in the constitution, because it may induce to all 
 kinds of speculations. Suppose the government would try to 
 make the canals pay, by using the water-power for manufacturing 
 flour, snuff, or paper, with a capital of one million, could people 
 hinder it consistently under this constitution, which makes the 
 government an everlasting canal and salt manufacturing concern. 
 I am not sure that such speculations will not spring up from this 
 article. Selling out is the best policy, if we would have New York 
 salt cheap and plenty. The present is old English royalty policy 
 making a beautiful show in New Caledonia. 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 
 Taxes. Voting on Debt and Tax Laws. 
 
 THE constitution ordains further: 
 
 " 13. Every law which imposes, continues, or revives a tax, shall distinctly 
 state the tax and the object to which it is to be applied, and it shall not be 
 sufficient to refer to any other law to fix such a tax or object." 
 
 This seems to be superfluous because self-evident and ministe- 
 rial. 
 
 " 14. On the final passage in either house of the legislature, of every act 
 which imposes, continues, or revives a tax, or creates a debt or charge, or 
 makes, continues, or revives any appropriation, of public or trust money or 
 propt-rty, or releases, discharges, or commutes any claim or demand of the 
 state, the question shall be taken by yeas and noes, which shall be duly en- 
 tered on the journals, and three fifths of all the members elected to either 
 house shall, in all such cases, be necessary to constitute a quorum therein." 
 
 All this is very well so far as it goes. But a definitive, abso- 
 lute prohibition of applying public funds for other purposes than 
 those required for the support of the state institution itself, can 
 alone check abuse of state means and power. The financial af- 
 fairs of an American municipal state, as it ought to be, are exceed- 
 ingly simple. And of the same character ought to be the consti- 
 tution itself. >The less detail the better. While this young state 
 constitution has been already repeatedly amended, the old federal 
 constitution has stood the fiery ordeal of factions, civil commotions, 
 wars, and other important changes of time, during almost a cen- 
 
CORPORATIONS. 263 
 
 tury, without requiring: the lea*t alteration ! It is so good that we 
 can still, a long, a very long time, profit by it. 
 
 Macchiavelli advises his prince to imitate a great monarch. In 
 making state constitutions we will do well to imitate our federal 
 constitution. JSio better pattern exists in the world. 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 Corporations. General Law. Banking Corporations. Suspension of 
 Payment. Registry of Bills. Paper Money. Insolvent Banks. 
 Boards. Conflict of State Laws, and the Federal Constitution, respecting 
 Banks of Issue. Paper and Metallic Money. Credit System. Agri- 
 culture. Hunt's Merchants' Magazine. 
 
 AT the time when this constitution was made there was much 
 popular excitement against incorporated companies, especially 
 bank corporations. 
 
 A corporation is, as the name indicates, an association for busi- 
 ness purposes, endowed by law, with the rights of a person. A 
 single person may be sued and sue, but a company or partner- 
 ship, as such, can not, unless it is incorporated, or made a politi- 
 cal person. Then the president alone, or with the directors, sue 
 and may be sued on account of the concern and their members, 
 who generally are called stockholders, and may reside where they 
 please. Copartners sue and are sued upon their names. On this 
 subject, and in consequence of those events, the constitution has a 
 separate article, as follows : 
 
 ARTICLE VIII. 
 
 Corporations. 
 
 " 1. Corporations may be formed under general laws; but shall not be 
 created by special act, except for municipal purposes, and in cases, where in 
 the judgment of the legislature, the objects of the corporation can not be 
 attained under general laws. All general laws and special acts passed pur- 
 suant to this section, may be altered from time to time or repealed." 
 
 This proviso is wise and good, although little regarded by the 
 legislature, when fn-oly chartering all kinds of corporations not 
 belonging to the exempted class, as for turning, pure milk, hospi- 
 
264 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 tals, etc. Municipal purposes means, incorporations of counties 
 and towns (cities and villages). I have mentioned elsewhere that 
 the constitution should contain the general provisoes about their 
 organization, because such an organic law is, in fact, nothing but 
 a state, county, and town charter. The expansion of industrial 
 enterprise, or, in other words, large business, requiring more 
 means than a single person usually commands, as the building of 
 canals, railroads, etc., is the cause of this business form or formal- 
 ity. It can be perfectly well arranged, with the help of the 
 county courts or administration, where the business is located, re- 
 serving to the state government the supervision ; for which pur- 
 pose the general law on the subject should contain explicit provi- 
 sions, the principal aim of which should be to prevent and check ir- 
 responsible monopolies and too great centralizations by consolida- 
 tions, etc. The cases mentioned in the proviso where the objects 
 of the corporation can not be attained under general laws, can be, 
 methinks, only such, whose business is not located within the 
 state, as Isthmus transit companies, and the like. But this being 
 no municipal business, it is doubtful whether such concerns should 
 not derive their charters elsewhere. If Rhode Island may charter 
 such a company, why should not all our states have the same 
 right? The restriction from the words, "and in cases," should be 
 expunged, because they unsettle the intention of the main part of 
 the clause. 
 
 Governments whose financial powers are little restricted, will 
 always be made use of, by influential parties, for their speculations. 
 The constitution should, therefore, be drawn up with a view to 
 avoid such contacts, ending in special legislation, log-rolling laws, 
 lobby regimen, debts, bankruptcy, repudiation, etc. Whoever is 
 against such governing must restrict the governments to the care 
 of realizing justice. Formalities for legalizing associations, gen- 
 eral laws should prescribe for the guidance of the courts and all 
 in concern. The constitution steered that way, but stopped before 
 reaching its end. 
 
 "2. Dues from corporations shall be secured by such individual liability 
 of the corporators and other means as may be prescribed by Law." 
 
 Here the text refers to a special law, to which, rather, the 
 whole clause belongs. 
 
BANKING CORPORATIONS. 265 
 
 " 3. The term corporations, as used in this article, shall be construed to in- 
 clude all associations and joint-stock companies having any of thf powers or 
 privileges of corporations not possessed by individuals or partnerships. And 
 all corporations shall have the right to sue and shall be subject to be sued in 
 all courts in like cases as natural persons." 
 
 This is doctrinal and not constitutional. 
 
 " 4. The legislature shall have no power to pass any act granting any spe- 
 cial charter for banking purposes ; but corporations or associations may be 
 formed for such purposes under general laws." 
 
 This is perfectly right, and applicable to all kinds of corporative 
 business. If well carried out, the legislatures remain free to ex- 
 ercise their supervisory power without being in the least concern- 
 ed or restricted by their own chartering. The legislator should 
 not be complicated with mere ministerial office business. 
 
 " 5. The legislature shall have no power to pass any law sanctioning in any 
 manner, directly or indirectly, the suspension of specie payments, by any per- 
 son, association, or corporation, issuing bank-notes of any description." 
 
 Perfectly right, nothing would be more unjust, because a politi- 
 cal bank promises, upon the faith of the state, to pay cash for its 
 bills of credit when presented. Any deviation from this constitu- 
 tional policy must impair the credit of both banks and state. 
 Alas ! when in 1857, the banks suspended specie payment again, 
 and the governor declined to interfere, the judges of the supreme 
 court stepped in, declaring that this suspension is not exactly a 
 refusal to pay, or an indication of insolvency, and refused, therefore, 
 to proceed against them, as requested. This was generally de- 
 nounced as an assumption of undue power. The clause obviously 
 wishes to place the political banks and their notes as secure as 
 possible. When the judiciary declares that the refusal of the 
 promised specie is of no consequence, it unsettles the constitution, 
 sports with the credit system, destroys confidence, prostrates the 
 business, and places the banks above the constitution and law, 
 and the confiding public at their mercy. This is more than a 
 dangerous precedent, it is a public calamity. If those judges 
 were appointed during good behavior, they would have been, no 
 doubt, removed, when thus abusing their power. The question 
 remains, whether they would then have acted thus ? 
 
 The management of our public money affairs reminds one of a 
 farmer, who, having a fine breadth of land, ordered his 'headman 
 to plant it with wheat. This done, he sent another man out to 
 
 12 
 
266 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 sow it over with oats. When the harvest arrived the wheat was 
 gone and the oats not worth anything, whereupon came the crisis 
 and bankruptcy of the farmer. A little reflection should teach, 
 that people who establish two antagonistic monetary systems the 
 one in the states, the other in the Union both in this regard the 
 same thing, because commerce knows no political boundaries, act 
 very inconsistently. We can not make one and the same busi- 
 ness coining money at the same time national and municipal, 
 without producing confusion and mischief. Banks, or no banks, 
 make no difference. If such a hermaphrodite monetary system is 
 right, then we may also have state navies, although expressly 
 prohibited, like bills of credit, by chartering companies, as we 
 charter banks, to build them. Good that it would be an unprofit- 
 able affair, otherwise we might have plenty of commodore navies, 
 with the help of ingenious interpretation. 
 
 " 6. The legislature shall provide by Lnv for the registry of all bills or 
 notes, issued or put in circulation as money, and shall require ample security 
 for the redemption of the same in specie." 
 
 According to the opinion of Daniel Webster, our most dis- 
 tinguished constitutional expounder, this section is against clause 1, 
 sect, x., art. I., of the federal constitution, for it is the cause of a 
 real state paper-money. If a bank circulates paper-money under 
 its own name, it is private money, if sanctioned by the state it is 
 political or public money. But no state shall circulate money, 
 neither directly nor indirectly, because Congress alone has to pro- 
 vide a circulating medium. This is a conflict which has been, 
 on the ground of a judicial interpretation, waived by Congress 
 up to this time, it must be said, to the great disadvantage of the 
 nation. 
 
 " 7. The stockholders in every corporation and joint-stock association for 
 banking purposes, issuing bank notes or any kind of paper credits to circulate 
 as money, after the first day of January, 1850, shall be individually respon- 
 sible to the amount of their respective share or shares of stock in any such 
 corporation or association, for all its debts and liabilities of every kind, con- 
 tracted after the said first day of January, 1850." 
 
 This is plain and just enough, but does not belong to a consti- 
 tution. 
 
 " 8. In case of 1 the insolvency of any bank or banking association, the bill- 
 
BANKS IN GENERAL. 267 
 
 holders thereof shall be entitled to preference in payment, over all other 
 creditors of such bank or association." 
 
 Belongs to a bankrupt law. 
 
 By allowing banks to circulate paper-money, (about two hun- 
 dred million dollars in the United States), it is done on the suppo- 
 sition that the public will borrow it. Thus is created what is 
 called a credit system. By this operation the industrious forces 
 are artificially stimulated toward trading, speculating, and, per- 
 haps, manufacturing, to the disadvantage of agriculture. Hence 
 our cities grow fast in population, and the agricultural towns hardly 
 any at all. Immense tracts of land in the vicinity of the greatest 
 thoroughfares and most populous cities in the state of New York 
 remain uncultivated. According to the census of 1850, it appears 
 that Queens county, Long Island, comprises one hundred and twen- 
 ty-three thousand three hundred and sixty acres of improved, and 
 forty-six thousand two hundred and eighty-six of unimproved 
 land, and Suffolk county one hundred and forty-three thousand 
 six hundred and thirteen acres improved, and two hundred and 
 ten thousand two hundred and ninety-two of unimproved land. 
 This shows that a resistless force draws man from agricultural 
 pursuits even in the vicinity of the best market. This force is 
 the credit system, supported by banks with paper-money circula- 
 tion ; because it induces man to believe that it is the panacea and 
 philosopher's stone which makes him rich without labor. Such 
 stimulation and intoxication, in a free society like ours, must be 
 injurious to the regular course of business and business habits. 
 It .creates reckless industrial fillibusters, who never think of the 
 golden rule of the celebrated Virginian, " pay as you go," which 
 may be considered the true panacea of dull times, panics, and crise3. 
 
 The well-known machinery of modern banks of issue, and of 
 the credit system, is, in the ma'in, the art of making money by 
 debts, on state authority. Some men of property lend money to 
 the state on interest; whereupon they^get permission from the 
 state in debt to issue as large an amount in notes as the state has 
 promised to pay them, which they loan to others on interest. 
 Then they take deposits, for which they pay no interest, which, 
 however, they lend again on interest, always taking care that the 
 borrowers get the bank-notes, while the bankers dispose of the 
 metal-money in the market to all who pay the highest price for it. 
 
268 MUNICIPAL GOYERNMENT. 
 
 By thus making money out of money, all depends naturally upon 
 credit, that is, upon the belief of the borrower that the bankers 
 are able to pay his debts to their bill-holders and depositors, and 
 that of the bankers that their debtors are able to pay on demand, 
 in cash. But as they seldom or never have any cash, and in the 
 main only promissory notes, it is obvious that this credit is a mere 
 illusion, and must terminate in panics and crises as soon as the 
 real squaring of accounts begins. 
 
 The mechanical art which produces a fine durable paper and 
 print, has supported this roundabout debt-making or credit system 
 vastly. It is disgraceful in a society under a government of law, 
 because this is supposed to rest mainly on morals, principles not 
 discernible in this credit system. 
 
 "Debt-money" says Hunt's Merchant's Magazine, " is an eternal 
 falsehood, and the New York state-banking system the highest 
 phase and refinement of the falsehood." Such money raises arti- 
 ficially the prices of merchandise, bread, and labor, and lowers 
 the value of gold and silver, which is then bought and exported. 
 It supports the laboring masses in Europe by stimulating impor- 
 tation, to the injury of our home industry. 
 
 While this paper-money 'credit system easily produces on one 
 hand general mercantile derangements, it renders on the other hand 
 a stable financial management of the federal government almost im- 
 possible. You know that the main source of the income of Congress 
 is, indirect, from customs. Now who has the power to derange com- 
 merce, has the power to cut off the customs and deplete the com- 
 mon treasury. This explains why Congress borrows, at present, 
 in time of peace, millions for the support of the common govern- 
 ment, which really means that the whole nation has to fill up the 
 gap caused by the paper-money credit-system crisis. Therefore, 
 as long as the states indulge in such things, a correct estimate of 
 the revenues from the customs, and of the income of the common 
 treasury, is out of the question. And here you see again what an 
 immense difference there is between the words national and muni- 
 cipal. The monetary affairs in regard to coin, standard, and cir- 
 culation are national, not municipal, as you know from the federal 
 constitution, and no other than a national currency should cir- 
 culate. 
 
 The financial events of 1857, nothing but revivals of prior 
 
CREDIT SYSTEM. 269 
 
 commercial revulsions tracing their origin to England, prove again 
 that the framers of the federal constitution understood their task 
 and the true principles of political economy better than their suc- 
 cessors, by abstracting from all so-called credit systems and financial 
 commercial experiments, and placing upon the solid basis of liberty 
 and justice, the national industry, commerce included. It is mere 
 infatuation to believe for a single minute that the material progress 
 of our nation rests upon another or better basis. Those who 
 substitute state-bank paper-money do all in their power to coun- 
 teract the effect of the federal constitution and the blessings of 
 our Union at home and abroad. American investments would be 
 eagerly sought for by intelligent people in all parts of the world, 
 if we had never seen a single dollar of debt-money ; for there 
 would be no nation, no state, surpassing ours in solid credit. The 
 state paper-credit system is the greatest enemy of the true pro- 
 gress and substantial wealth and welfare of this nation. It is 
 nonsense to believe that there can be wealth represented by money 
 without labor and industry. Whether industrious people have 
 mines or not, makes no difference ; they will always attract and 
 command so much wealth, represented by money, as their industry 
 is really worth, and enjoy a world-wide firm credit ; while on the 
 other hand mountains full of gold and silver and Wall-streets full of 
 paper money can not prevent a lazy, indolent, and unpractical peo- 
 ple like the Mexicans from sinking into utter ruin and insignificance. 
 As some of the states have already fairly, as in duty bound, 
 adopted the policy of the federal constitution and prohibited the 
 circulation of bills of credit of state bank-paper money, to their 
 great benefit and honor, it is to be hoped that soon, very soon, the 
 rest will follow and carry out their own supreme law of the land. 
 There is no better credit system in the world, and never will be, 
 than that which is the product of industrial liberty and justice; 
 and this, as I have repeatedly said, has given us this great funda- 
 mental law, the patent of our nationality. It has, in this regard, 
 been misunderstood by the judiciary, supporting as it is by a weak 
 amaurotic interpretation or quibble, the st;iie bank-paper money. 
 I write this without the least intention to reflect upon the private 
 business of banking. The fault is not with the banks and bank- 
 ers, but the politicians, desiring to be teachers of the law, " un- 
 derstanding neither what they say nor whereof they affirm." 
 
270 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 Cities. Villages. History. Supcrceded by a Judicious Organization of 
 Towns and Counties. Saving of Taxes. 
 
 LET us read on. 
 
 " 9. Tt shall be the duty of the legislature to provide for the organization 
 of cities and incorporated villages, and to restrict their power of taxation, as- 
 sessment, borrowing money, contracting debts, and loaning their credit, so as 
 to prevent abuses in assessments and in contracting debt by such municipal 
 corporations." 
 
 Behind those eight sections on banks, you find this short provi- 
 so concerning the organization of cities and villages -mere anom- 
 alies but to the organization of the counties and towns this very 
 verbose and explicit constitution has not devoted two entire lines ; 
 just as if banks and similar corporations were more important 
 in political regard, than those political districts in which the pub- 
 lic business, mostly is performed. 
 
 Mutual protection and chance of business induced men, in an- 
 cient times, to crowd together in favorable localities. Business is 
 still the mother of cities and villages, but civilization does not re- 
 quire it more for protection. We have no more roving and rob- 
 bing tribes and barons, the cause which induced people and gov- 
 ernment to crowd in cities together and make them secure by for- 
 'tifications. Our policy at present should be to facilitate not at all 
 by law the formation of cities and villages, because the latter are 
 but small cities, and the first invariably centers of mischief and 
 mobs, and not always homes of good sciences, wholesome arts, 
 and exemplary morals, and therefore difficult to manage. Civili- 
 zation is now not local but universal ; a free press and liberty of 
 industry in general have set up in every house a college, in every 
 town a Paris, and promoted in every county as much culture as 
 formerly were the boast of capitals, metropolises, and empires. 
 Even business ceases to be building up cities at present, because 
 railroads and steamers facilitate a separation of residence and 
 office in many instances. 
 
CONSOLIDATION. 271 
 
 When influential speculators and their newspapers insist upon 
 the consolidation of cities, as, Boston, and Charlestown, and Rox- 
 bury ; or New York and Brooklyn ; or Troy and Lansingburgh ; 
 and achieve them, as in the case of Brooklyn and Williamsburgh, 
 Philadelphia, etc., they mistake politics and the best interests of 
 society entirely. The legislatures which support and sanction 
 such consolidations purposely demoralize society by increasing ar- 
 tificially, the difficulty of ruling it. 
 
 This clause has not exercised any good influence upon the ad- 
 ministration of the cities. They are all in difficulties in regard to 
 finances, safety, and order. The defective administration of New 
 York city requires sixteen millions of dollars, all told, while the 
 expenses of the well-governed kingdom of Saxony amounts to only 
 seven millions. But this state of things prevails not alone in New 
 York. Providence, in Rhode Island, with forty thousand inhab- 
 itants, increasing in eight years about ten per cent, had, during 
 this time, an increase of expenses at the rate of three hundred 
 per cent, and of debts more than four hundred per cent. For the 
 last two years the excess of expenditures over tax assessed is 
 $518,000. It is obvious, then, that the reform of such evils must 
 begin with the business and business districts. The axiom of one 
 of the best statesman of our age, Jefferson, viz., " that govern- 
 ment is the best which governs least,'' is only applicable to a soci- 
 ety whose business districts are of the right size. As those over- 
 grow, the government's business, expenses, taxes, debts, and diffi- 
 culties will increase proportionately, notwithstanding all constitu- 
 tions and axioms of the best men to the contrary. Still this clause 
 is laudable because it has been dictated by a sense of economy. 
 The current practice, however, differs from it. 
 
 People therefore, when called upon to vote upon consolidations 
 of towns or cities, which are not decreasing in population, should 
 invariably vote against it. 
 
272 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 LETTER XVI. 
 
 Education. Funds. Instruction. Communes. Girard. Peabody. 
 Cooper. Popular Education. Popular Sovereignty. 
 
 You may be, perhaps, surprised by the head of the following 
 article, because education proper is a strange subject for a consti- 
 tution. But let us see. 
 
 ARTICLE IX. 
 
 Education. 
 
 "1. The capital of the common school fund, the capital of the literature 
 fund, and the capital of the U. S. deposit fund shall be respectively preserved 
 inviolate. The revenue of the said common school fund shall be applied 
 to the support of common schools ; the revenues of the said literature fund 
 shall be applied to the support of academies, and the sum of $25,000 of the 
 revenues of the U. S. deposit fund shall each year be appropriated to and 
 make a part of the capital of the said common school fund." 
 
 Why this article is headed " education," instead of, perhaps, 
 "financial," I can not say. The funds in question have been 
 formed by special laws, which, of course, should never be vio- 
 lated by the legislature, as I remark again, and are to be man- 
 aged accordingly. . Is it sound doctrine to have such funds in our 
 country ? The schooling or instruction of the young is not a po- 
 litical, but a simple domestic family affair, either taken care of by 
 nurses, mothers, fathers, guardians, or by others engaged or ap- 
 pointed by them. Town-districts, often also called communes, 
 have been, all over the world, since time immemorial, made use 
 of for the organization of schools ; and those, therefore, placed 
 under the surveillance of the town officials, just as everything 
 else of a little common interest, viz., streets, fences, brooks, rivers, 
 commons, pastures, sidewalks, taverns, hotels, etc., and ruled by 
 town resolves, by-laws, customs, etc. Church organizations often 
 helped, also, to foster schools, but the state institution proper had 
 nothing to do with it. Thus the money for schooling went di- 
 rectly from the pockets of the parents into those of the teachers. 
 
COMMON SCHOOLS. 273 
 
 Such schools were called commune or common, or town or public 
 schools. These schools can be made very good, without the least 
 interference of the legislature, provided that there are well-or- 
 ganized towns. Of course, the money constituting these funds 
 comes from the people, where, if left, it would produce hundred- 
 fold interest ; while, as permanent funds in the hands of state of- 
 ficials, who, according to the constitution, seem to be not always 
 trustworthy, for, otherwise, this law would not so often speak 
 about good faith, or violation of trust, they can not bring more 
 than seven per cent., but never will bring that. Excuse me if I 
 write about such things. I would not do it, if such funds gave 
 no chance for corruption, according to the daily reports. It is 
 natural that all business of this kind, as schools, sciences, litera- 
 ture, arts, etc., if connected with the state, must partake of the 
 predominant political character of the party in power. In a mon- 
 archy, all these things will be tinged with the policy of the court ; 
 in a republic, every party in power will try to gain influence upon 
 them. Whoever is paid by the state is a state official, and must 
 accordingly rule himself. History proves that, in spite of the Bible 
 and everything sacred about our religion, the clergy depending 
 upon the state are grasping at undue power, and we have, there- 
 fore dissolved this connexion. Still we make now the teachers 
 state officials. Are they and clergymen not of the same human 
 kind ? In Europe, with a very few exceptions, sciences and arts 
 are under political surveillance. Professors, savans, and writers 
 are, especially when in the pay of the governments, so closely 
 guarded that their products bear the stamp of political partiality, 
 more or less. We should, therefore, never pay much attention to 
 their school, university, and similar expedients to raise subservient 
 scholars. To speak in sober earnest of education proper, as a 
 political affair intrusted to politicians, is too curious a thing to 
 dwell upon. There is no better board of education than the 
 family. But the poor ! the poor ! Well, our present common 
 school system, created by state laws, is positively not calculated 
 to benefit the real poor people, but that class generally well able 
 to pay teachers. 
 
 The city of New York pays more than one million dollars 
 for common schools, normal schools, a free academy, etc., and, 
 in 1857, there were 60,000 children not attending any school at 
 
 12* 
 
274 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 all, and of those in the 18th ward alone 2,631, among them 1,340 
 born Americans. For these children charitable ladies have estab- 
 lished schools. The same happens in all towns. The present ar- 
 tificial, expensive system does not work better than the cheap, 
 natural management carried out by families. The public morals 
 now are rather worse than they were in the period before the 
 system was adopted. It, too, interferes with charity and generous 
 liberality. There are a great number of wealthy men among us 
 who seem not to know how to spend their money ; or, when ar- 
 rived at the goal, how to dispose of their earthly treasure. As 
 charity helps the poor children, so would wealthy men, if not in- 
 terfered with by the state, help the schools in general. The lib- 
 eral acts of Girard, Peabody, Cooper, and so many others, are 
 proofs of what I am going to say. Also, in this regard, emula- 
 tion and competition are powerfully at work. Education is the 
 work of families. What errors are committed in families, no 
 school will easily eradicate, no science remedy. Too often rather 
 is a son, well educated by a mother, spoiled in public institutions ! 
 Neither schools nor sciences mould the character of men. I think 
 that this article is superfluous in a constitution. 
 
 The inventive genius of our politicians enriches, from time to 
 time, our language with new phrases, which serve them in their 
 party warfare as weapons. What all the world, besides ourselves, 
 has called common schools or public instruction, that they call now 
 " popular education." I admit that people have a right to mould 
 their own language, that words become sometimes uncurrent, and 
 that the general use decides upon their value. Still, if phrases 
 are manufactured for party purposes, the opponents must enjoy 
 the privilege to examine them. I deny that there exists such a 
 thing as popular education, in the proper sense of these words. 
 If we have to attribute to families, and especially to the mothers, 
 the care of the education of the young, then each family, each 
 mother will and ought to pursue their own peculiar course or sys- 
 tern ; a fact which at once excludes the idea of a popular educa- 
 tion that is, an education of the whole people, by the families, 
 according to uniform laws. This is, no doubt, an absurdity. But, 
 if this phrase is tantamount to public or common instruction, then 
 our legislatures, by meddling with it, plainly interfere', as they, 
 alas ! so often do, with the very old and good right of towns or 
 
POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY. 275 
 
 communes, to make the needful arrangements for the instruction 
 of children as they please. It is repugnant to the principle of 
 self-government, that a government in free society should be hound 
 to provide funds for common town-schools, or make laws for their 
 organization, school-books, etc. If the teachers and freemen in 
 the towns are not able to do this without state interference, the 
 sooner the republican form of government is abandoned the bet- 
 ter. Says a teacher of one of the public schools in New York, 
 Mr. Stewart, in a public meeting of teachers : " Our present 
 school-system was admirable at the time it started, but it is now 
 the contrary. It was based on a pauper system of education (in- 
 struction), which is not in any way adapted to the present day. 
 Our present school-system is miserably detrimental in its effects 
 upon the mental, moral, and physical qualifications of the youth 
 of our city. Now, at the present time, the school system costs 
 the people of New York considerably over $1,000,000 annually, 
 and it is likely, before long, to cost $1,500,000, or even more." 
 These results are the fruits of state-meddling with town (city, 
 village) business. 
 
 Being engaged in discussing political cant-phrases, I add here 
 a few words on that of " popular sovereignty" or " squatter sov- 
 ereignty," taking, for the sake of convenience, the words popular 
 and squatter for synonyms. I also say, that there exists no such a 
 thing as popular sovereignty in the United States, because it im- 
 plies direct legislation by the people, as in the beginning of Mary- 
 land or ancient Greece, but not in vogue at present. People may 
 be independent and free, but, on this account, are not sovereigns 
 in the proper sense of the word, because they are not legislators. 
 The act of voting or electing is not a result of sovereignty, but of 
 organized civil liberty. There is no nation in the world, the Rus- 
 sians and Turks included, without possessing more or less of this 
 liberty, and, consequently, without some voting or electing. They 
 elect not always their governments, as kings, etc., but these rule 
 notwithstanding, with the tacit or presumptive general consent of 
 the people, for, otherwise, they would not be able to maintain 
 themselves at all. In this connection, you will remember that 
 sovereigns, that is those that represent and legislate for society, 
 are either lorn or elected; the first happens in monarchies, the 
 latter in republics ; but in constitutional monarchies, also, the 
 
276 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 legislatures are, for the most part, elected, and that all those offi- 
 cers who execute the laws of the state and act in its name, as 
 judges, clerks, military, etc., are appointed. I try to be as plain 
 and explicit as possible in this regard, because there are confused 
 ideas afloat about these things, which, if they enter party disputes 
 and constitutions, cause much mischief. Those who make the 
 judiciary and other administrative officials elective labor under 
 such ideas. 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 Local Officers. Sheriffs' Clerks. County, City, Town, and Village Offi- 
 cers. Their Election. Vacancies. Political Year. Removal. 
 Vacant Offices. Metropolitan Police Law. 
 
 THE following article, akin of the seventh, seems to contradict, 
 in some measure, Avhat I have said before about the little care be- 
 stowed upon the organization of counties and towns by the consti- 
 tution ; but let us see. 
 
 ARTICLE X. 
 
 Local Officers. 
 
 "I. Sheriffs, clerks of counties, including the register and clerk of the 
 city and county of New York, coroners and district attorneys, shall be chosen 
 b} f the electors of the respective counties, once in every three years, and as 
 often as vacancies shall happen. Sheriffs shall hold no other office, and be 
 ineligible for the next three vears after the termination of their offices. They 
 may be required, by law, to renew their security, from time to time ; and in 
 default of giving such new security, their offices shall be deemed vacant 
 But the county shall never be made responsible for the acts of the sheriff. 
 
 " The governor may remove any officer, in this section mentioned, within 
 the term for which he shall have been elected ; giving to such officer a copy 
 of the charges against him, and an opportunity of being heard in his defence." 
 
 Here we make the acquaintance of a number of subaltern clerks 
 or officials, '"originally to be appointed by the courts or boards to 
 whom they belong, or by the respective executive and legislative 
 bodies. The sheriff is the judicial county executive, and should 
 be appointed like the county judiciary. You may compare with 
 it the last sentence in art. II., sect, ii., clause 2, of the federal 
 
LOCAL -OFFICERS. 277 
 
 constitution. Something like that would also answer for a state 
 constitution. 
 
 Who are at present the electors? the citizens who are called 
 so ? Not exactly ; for, according to the usual party management 
 of elections, the party nominating committees or conventions, 
 which present the candidates to the electors, are the real ap- 
 pointers of the functionaries, and the voting of the electors itself 
 a mere matter of form or ratification. These committees, of 
 course, have their own policies and interests. The more offices 
 there are in the market, the more importance acquire these com- 
 mittees, and, of course, the more bargains will occur. This invaria- 
 bly must terminate in utter corruption. If we now throw out of 
 the elections all clerical offices, as I have suggested repeatedly, a 
 great source of public corruption will be dried up at once, the po- 
 litical machinery simplified, and the pernicious influence of par- 
 ties checked. We can not be without parties, but should not pur- 
 posely educate bad parties. This we do by the present elective 
 system. 
 
 It seems to be-against justice to exempt the counties from re- 
 sponsibily for the acts of their officials. Who else shall be re- 
 sponsible ? The subalterns or clerks should be amenable or re- 
 sponsible to those who appoint them. The sheriff should be re- 
 sponsible to the county overseer and supervisors, who should ap- 
 point them. If those authorities should neglect their duty, then 
 comes the turn of the governor to see that the laws are executed. 
 
 " 2. All county officers, whose election or appointment is not provided for 
 by this constitution, shall be elected by the electors of the respective counties, 
 or appointed by the boards of supervisors, or other county authorities, as the 
 legislature shall direct. All city, town, and village officers, whose election 
 or appointment is not provided for by this constitution, shall be elected by 
 the electors of such cities, towns, and villages, or of some division thereof, or 
 appointed by such authorities thereof as the legislature shall designate for 
 that purpose. All officers, whose election or appointment is not provided for 
 by this constitution, and all officers whose offices may hereafter be created 
 by law, shall be elected by the people, or appointed as the legislature may 
 direct." 
 
 This seems to be a pretty exclusive proviso, but is vague withal. 
 If the constitution contains the necessary provisoes for the or- 
 ganization and government of counties and towns (cities and vil- 
 lages), and gives them the appointment of the subaltern clerks, 
 
278 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 all will be clear, and such disputes as that" about the right of the 
 legislature to establish a new state police-district for four counties 
 can not happen. The police business is and ever will be local, 
 and, of course, belonging to towns. No state, no county, ever can 
 be in need of a policeman or constable if there are towns organ- 
 ized (cities and villages). If a constitution ordains that the 
 towns (cities, villages) shall elect and appoint their town officials, 
 policemen included, it ordains implicitly that nobody else shall 
 do it, neither the county nor state, or an arbitrary paper district of 
 two, three, or four counties. If constitutions are not, by the com- 
 petent courts, interpreted in this manner, they are positively not 
 to be depended on. 
 
 The constitution ordains that there shall be a court of appeals. 
 Well, if now a legislature, in favor of two or a dozen such courts, 
 should create them, because the constitution did not expressly for- 
 bid the establishing of more than one, all would at once cry out 
 that this was a wicked quibble a false interpretation; still the 
 metropolitan police law rests upon no better ground. It is a bold 
 encroachment upon this proviso. Washington. utters pithy words 
 on such acts in his Farewell Address. 
 
 " 3. When the duration of any office is not provided by this constitution, 
 it may be declared by law, and if not so declared, such office shall be held 
 during the pleasure of the authority making the appointment. 
 
 " 4. The time of electing all officers named in this article shall be pre- 
 scribed by law." 
 
 This is matter of course. A similar proviso like that in sect. iv. 
 is contained in sect, xviii., art. VI. 
 
 " 5. The legislature shall provide for filling vacancies in office, and in case 
 of elective officers, no person appointed to fill a vacancy shall hold his office 
 by virtue of such appointment longer than the commencement of the politi- 
 cal year next succeeding the first annual election after the happening of the 
 vacancy. 
 
 "6. The political year and legislative term shall begin on the first day of 
 January, and the legislature shall assemble on the first Tuesday in January, 
 unless a different day may be appointed by law. 
 
 " 7. Provision shall be made by law for the removal for misconduct or 
 malversation in office of all officers (except judicial) whose powers and duties 
 are not local and legislative, and who shall be elected at general elections, 
 and also fur supplying vacancies created by such removals. 
 
 " 8. The legislature may declare the cases in which any office shall be 
 deemed vacant, where no provision is made for that purpose in this con- 
 stitution." 
 
MILITIA. 279 
 
 All these provisoes do not deserve exactly a place in a consti- 
 tution. It may suit a later legislature better to begin the politi- 
 cal year a couple of weeks before the session, in order to get the 
 message and reports complete in season. 
 
 All these details are objects of special legislation or routine. 
 
 The head of this article should have taught caution and dis- 
 cretion to the framers of the constitution and the originators of 
 the metropolitan police law ; and this case, in particular, should 
 teach how much depends upon a well-informed and honest ju- 
 diciary in a republic. 
 
 LETTER XVIII. 
 
 Militia. Religious Denominations. Higher Law. Appointment of offi- 
 cers. Major-Generals. Commissary-General. Commission. 
 
 THE god Mars rules not only in Europe supremely, but also 
 in the state of New York. 
 
 ARTICLE XI. 
 
 Militia. 
 
 " 1. The militia of this state shall at all times hereafter, be armed and dis- 
 ciplined, and in readiness for service; but all such inhabitants of this state, 
 of any religious denomination whatever, as from scruples of conscience may 
 be averse to beai'ing arms, shall be excused therefrom, upon such condition 
 as may be prescribed by law." 
 
 Compare this article and its six clauses with the few simple lines 
 in the federal constitution, concerning the army and navy and 
 common defense of the United States, and you will judge for 
 yourself that most of it does not belong to the constitution, but in 
 a statute book or one of mere regulations. A simple constitution- 
 al proviso, that the militia of the state of New York shall be or- 
 ganized in conformity with the laws of Congress, would be sufficient 
 for all practical purposes. Also the scruples mentioned here should 
 never be made manifest in a constitution. It reflects upon sects 
 and has a smack of higher law reveries and their approval, which 
 is entirely wrong. 
 
 "2. Militia officers shall be chosen or appointed as follows : captains, Subal- 
 terns, and non-commissioned officers shall be chosen by the written votes of 
 
280 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 members of their respective companies. Field officers of regiments and sep- 
 arate battalions, by the written votes of the commissioned officers of the re- 
 spective regiments and separate battalions ; brigadier-generals and brigadier-in- 
 spectors by the field officers of their respective brigades ; major-generals, 
 brigadier-generals, and commanding officers of regiments or separate battal- 
 ions, shall appoint the staff officers to their respective divisions, brigades, reg- 
 iments, or separate battalions." 
 
 From time to time different modes of appointment may be re- 
 quired. But I ask why not entrust the election of field offi- 
 cers to the common militiamen, if the same men, as citizen, may 
 be intrusted with the election of county judges, supreme judges, 
 members of court of appeals, comptrollers, engineers, governors, 
 etc. ? Is not a judge of the supreme court, as it is at present or- 
 ganized, a much more important and responsible officer, than a 
 harmless, however martial, major of the militia ? 
 
 "3. The governor shall nominate, and with the. consent of the senate, ap- 
 point all major-generals, and the commissary-general. The adjutant-general 
 and other chiefs of staff departments ; and the aides-de-camp of the corn- 
 man dcr-in-chief shall be appointed by the governor, and their commissions 
 shall expire with the time for which the governor shall have been elected. 
 The commissary-general shall hold his office for two years. He shall give 
 security for the faithfnl execution of the duties of his office, in such manner 
 and amount as shall be prescribed by law. 
 
 This proviso is a very sensible one, because it gives to the gov- 
 ernor the appointment of all major-generals, and the powerful 
 commissary-general too. Would it not now be equally sensible, 
 and indeed wise, to let him also appoint all real state officers, viz., 
 those of the court of appeals, and supreme courts, provided the 
 latter are needed ? The citizen and militiamen are clubbing and 
 become well acquainted with each other. They may therefore 
 presumptively elect their drill-masters and commanders judicious- 
 ly enough, and better at present than at the revolutionary war, 
 when Washington complained that they did not always elect gen- 
 tlemen. But if not trustworthy in this instance, why allow them 
 to elect the highest state judges and other officials ? Is there not 
 a good deal of inconsistency and lack of principle in such legis- 
 lation ? 
 
 " 4. The legislature shall, by law, direct the time and manner of electing 
 militia officers, and of certifying their election to the governor." 
 
 Superfluous, because matter-of-course. 
 " 5. The commissioned officers of the militia shall be commissioned by the 
 
OATHS. 281 
 
 governor ; and no commissioned officer shall be removed from office, unless 
 by the senate on the recommendation of the governor, stating the grounds 
 on which such removal is recommended, or by the decision of a court-martial, 
 pursuant to law. The present officers of the militia shall hold their commis- 
 sions subject to removal as before provided." 
 
 A curious proviso, separating the appointing and removing 
 power there where strict subordination is the first requisite to 
 make the institution effective. Much more regard is paid to the 
 militia than to the judiciary. 
 
 "6. In case the mode of election and appointment of militia officers hereby 
 directed, shall not be found conducive to the improvement of the militia, the 
 legislature may abolish the same and provide by law for their appointment 
 and removal, if two thirds of the members present in each house shall con- 
 cur therein." 
 
 This proves that the whole article is superfluous. But it is sig- 
 nificant in regard to principles. 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 Oaths. Test. Abuse of Oaths. Literal Interpretation. Scandal in 
 
 Courts. 
 
 WE come now to some formalities. 
 
 ARTICLE XII. 
 
 Oaths. 
 
 "Members of the legislature, and all officers, executive and judicial, ex- 
 cept such inferior officers as may be by law exempted, shall, before they enter 
 on the duties of their respective offices, take and subscribe the following oath 
 or affirmation : 
 
 " ' I do solemnly swear (or affirm, as the case may be), that I will support 
 the constitution of the United States, and the constitution of the state of 
 New York, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of according 
 
 to the best of my ability.' 
 
 "And no other oath, declaration, or test, shall be required as a qualifica- 
 tion for any office or public trust." 
 
 This is in conformity with the federal constitution, and very 
 well that the state officials shall be bound to support this constitu- 
 tion ; but I think the improvement elsewhere proposed upon the 
 preamble of this constitution, will, notwithstanding, find favor 
 with the people at large ; because it places the intimate connec- 
 tion between the states created by the federal constitution in the 
 
282 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 true light. We all love our homes and their constitutional rights 
 and order, but appreciate not less on this account our confedera- 
 tion and its priceless blessings. That improvement binds the 
 whole state, and not some officials only. The last sentence is not 
 so clear as that in the third section of the third article of the 
 federal constitution. Before the word " test " should be found 
 the word " religious." That " no religious test shall ever be re- 
 quired as a qualification to any office or public trust under the 
 United States," in consequence of which all our state constitutions 
 have abolished this test, should have had a radical reforming in- 
 fluence upon the peculiar custom of the English law, which 
 requires a special oath in almost all transactions before the court. 
 The plaintiff complains upon oath, the defendant answers upon 
 oath, and denies, in most cases, upon no other ground than the 
 hope that the plaintiff may not be able to prove the claim, thus 
 committing perjury. We should have been induced by this pre- 
 cedent of the federal constitution to reform this universally- con- 
 demned and most immoral feature of the English law-code at 
 once : not so Great Britain, where the religious test is still lawful. 
 Let it be understood that transactions before a court are self-evi- 
 dent. A court sits to elicit the truth in a civil or criminal case, 
 in the name of the state. Whatever the parties called in court 
 affirm or deny, is affirmed or denied before the government repre- 
 sented by the court. The papers delivered by the parties, the 
 records of the court, containing the substance of the transactions, 
 are official public documents and property, and, in virtue of the 
 state authority of the court, perfectly conclusive by themselves. 
 The common custom of asking from a plaintiff an oath about his 
 libel, and one from the defendant about his answer, etc., presup- 
 poses that the sitting of the court is not authoritative or official. 
 
 As matters are with us, a judge who sits without a religious 
 test, has no right to inquire into the religious tenets of parties or 
 witnesses. A man must be believed in court until the reverse of 
 what he does or says is proved. Should he commit a falsehood, 
 he acts as criminally as if he had acted upon oath ; because, by 
 doing so, he violates the truth, the authority of the court, and the 
 state government, which is set up for the purpose of realizing 
 truth and justice. A falsehood committed in court is a kind of 
 treasonable act against the state. 
 
LAW INTERPRETATION. 283 
 
 There are more immoral or irrational features in the English 
 jurisprudence, with which it is high time to dispense. One is the 
 prevalent literal interpretation of the law, without a due regard 
 to the rational interpretation, which alone deserves the name of 
 interpretation. The word signifies nothing without regard to its 
 spirit. Suppose the law should dispose that Congress shall meet 
 at the capitol in Washington, on the first Monday of December, 
 and it should happen that the capitol was destroyed by fire before 
 this time, then, according to the literal interpretation in vogue, 
 Congress could not meet at all, there being no capitol ; but ac- 
 cording to rational interpretation, the meeting of Congress would 
 be considered as the principal object, the house or place of assem- 
 blage as secondary, and therefore no obstruction happen, pro- 
 vided a place of meeting was anywhere left for Congress. An- 
 other example, founded upon facts. The law ordains that the 
 electors of the President shall meet on a certain day at the state 
 capitals to cast their votes. The electors of the state of Wiscon- 
 sin, as has been stated, were, in 1856, detained by a violent snow- 
 storm, and did not reach their place of convention on that day ; 
 wherefore the vote of that state was considered lost, according to 
 the literal interpretation, while, according to the rational under- 
 standing of the law, the casting of the vote, as the principal business, 
 should have proceeded as soon as those electors could surmount 
 the natural obstacles, which was alone necessary to prove or cer- 
 tify at the place of meeting, to make the casting of their votes 
 one or two clays after the snow-storm and appointed date perfectly 
 legal ; and thus the order and legality of the whole presidential 
 vote would have been saved, while, by the literal interpretation, 
 quite the reverse result might have taken place. Suppose the 
 snow-storm should have visited Pennsylvania, then Mr. Fremont, 
 with the help of a political snow-storm, would have carried the 
 election. Such curiosities may be, and are in fact daily the result 
 of literal interpretation, which, when applied to criminal law, is, 
 in many instances, the shield of evident criminality and the pro- 
 lific source of savage mobism, roguery, and corruption. This is 
 repugnant to common sense and morality, too. 
 
 I mention further that trials of scandalous and obscene cases 
 should not be public, to prevent the courts becoming the adverti- 
 sers and publishers of scandalous, immoral reports, which, to cir- 
 
284 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 culate in book-form, is prohibited by special law. You will excuse 
 these remarks here, but they spring up by the association of ideas. 
 Laws should be strictly logical, common-sense, and moral. Sound 
 public opinion, and absence of licentiousness in the press, will be 
 the result. Thus a good state constitution may have a great in- 
 fluence upon the promotion of morals, and even good taste in 
 general ; more, perhaps, than science and art combined. 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 Amendments. Miscellaneous. Election Results in Kegard to Migration. 
 Governor Hammond's Speech. Bound and Free Labor. Vox Populi 
 Franklin. 
 
 WE have arrived at the end of the constitution. 
 
 ARTICLE XIII. 
 
 Amendments. 
 
 " 1. Any amendment or amendments to this constitution may be proposed 
 in the senate and assembly; and if the same shall be agreed to by a majority 
 of the members elected to each of the two houses, such proposed amendment 
 or amendments shall be entered on their journals with the yeas and nays taken 
 thereon, and referred to the legislature to be chosen at the next general elec- 
 tion of senators, and shall be published, for three months previous to the time 
 of making such choice, and if in the legislature so next chosen, as aforesaid, 
 such proposed amendment or amendments shall be agreed to by a majority 
 of ail the members elected to each hojuse, then it shall be the duty of the legis- 
 lature to submit such proposed amendment or amendments to the people, in 
 such manner and at such time as the legislature shall prescribe; and. if the 
 people shall approve and ratify such amendment or amendments, by a ma- 
 jority of the electors qualified to vote for members of legislature, voting there- 
 on, such amendment or amendments shall become part of the constitution." 
 
 A similar, but less verbose proviso occurs in the federal con- 
 stitution. 
 
 " 2. At the general election to be held in the year eighteen hundred and 
 sixty-six, and in each twentieth year thereafter, and also at such time as the 
 legislature may by law provide, the question, ' Shall there be a convention to 
 revise the constitution and amend the same V shall be decided by the electors 
 qualified to vote for members of the legislature ; and in case a majority of the 
 electors so qualified, voting at such election, shall decide in favor of a con- 
 vention for such purpose, the legislature at its next session, shall provide by 
 law for the election of delegates to such convention." 
 
MISCELLANEOUS. 285 
 
 A constitution which makes in such a sweeping manner the 
 whole judiciary elective, will ruin the morals of a society in such 
 a large state as New York, which is so much inflated by immi- 
 gration, in a very short time. Hence the urgent necessity of 
 amending it. 
 
 ARTICLE XIV. 
 
 Miscellaneous. 
 
 " 1. The first election of senators and members of assembly, pursuant to 
 the provisions of this constitution, shall be held on the Tuesday succeeding 
 the first Monday of November, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven. 
 
 " The senators and members of assembly who may be in office on the first 
 day of January, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, shall hold their 
 offices until and including the thirty-first day of December following and no 
 longer. 
 
 " 2. The first election of governor and lieutenant-governor under this con- 
 stitution, shall be held on the Tuesday succeeding the first Monday of No- 
 vember, 1848; and the governor and lieutenant-governor in office when this 
 constitution shall take effect, shall hold their respective offices until and in- 
 cluding the 31st day of December of that year. 
 
 " 3. The secretary of state, comptroller, treasurer, attorney-general, district 
 attorneys, surveyor-general, canal commissioners, and inspectors of state 
 prisons, in office when this constitution shall take effect, shall hold their re- 
 spective offices until and including the 31st day of December, 1847, and no 
 longer. " 
 
 " 4. The first election of judges and clerk of the court of appeals, justices, 
 of the supreme court and county judges, shall take place at such time between 
 the first Tuesday of April and the second Tuesday of June, 1847, as may be 
 prescribed by law. The said courts shall respectively enter upon their duties, 
 on the first Monday of July, next thereafter, but the terra of office of said 
 judges, clerk, and justices, as declared by this constitution, shall be deemed 
 to commence on the first day of January, 1848. 
 
 "5. On the first Monday of July, 1847, jurisdiction of all suits and pro- 
 ceedings then pending in the present supreme court and court of chancery, 
 and all suits and proceedings originally commenced and then pending in any 
 court of common pleas (except in the city and county of New York), shall 
 become vested in the supreme court hereby established. Proceedings pend- 
 ing in courts of common pleas and in suits originally commenced injustices' 
 courts shall be transferred to the county courts provided for in this constitu- 
 tion, in such manner and form, and under such regulation as shall be pro- 
 vided by law. The courts of oyer and terminer hereby established, shall, in 
 their respective counties, have jurisdiction, on and after the day last men- 
 tioned, of all indictments and proceedings then pending in the present courts 
 of oyer and terminer; and also of all indictments and proceedings then pend- 
 ing in the present courts of general sessions of the peace, except in the city 
 of New York, and except in cases of which the courts of sessions hm/by 
 
286 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 established may lawfully take cognisance ; and of such indictments and pro- 
 ceedings the courts of sessions hereby established, shall have jurisdiction on 
 and after the day last mentioned. 
 
 " 6. The chancellor and the present supreme court shall, respectively, have 
 power to hear and determine any of such suits and proceedings ready on the 
 first Monday of July, 1847, for hearing or decision, and shall, for their ser- 
 vices therein, be entitled to their present rates of compensation until the first 
 day of July, 1848, or until all such suits and proceedings shall be sooner 
 heard and determined. Masters in chancery may continue to exercise the 
 functions of their office in the court of chancery, so long as the chancellor 
 shall continue to' exercise the functions of his office under the provisions of 
 this constitution. 
 
 " And the supreme court hereby established shall also have power to hear 
 and determine such of said suits and proceedings as may be prescribed by 
 law. 
 
 " 7. In case any vacancy shall occur in the office of chancellor or justice of 
 the present supreme court, previously to the first day of July, 1848, the gov- 
 ernor may nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the senate, 
 appoint a proper person to fill such vacancy. Any judge of the court of ap- 
 peals or justice of the supreme court, elected under this constitution, may re- 
 ceive and hold such appointment. 
 
 " 8. The offices of chancellor, justice of the existing supreme court, circuit 
 judge, vice-chancellor, assistant vice-chancellor, judge of the existing county 
 courts of each county, supreme court commissioner, master in chancery, ex- 
 aminer in chancery, and surrogate (except as herein otherwise provided), are 
 abolished from and after the first Monday of July, 1847. 
 
 " 9. The chancellor, the justices of the present supreme court, and the cir- 
 cuit judges, are hereby declared to be severally eligible to any office at the 
 first election under this constitution. 
 
 " 10. Sheriffs, clerks of counties (including the register and clerk of the 
 city and county of New York), justices of the peace and coroners, in office 
 when this constitution shall take effect, shall hold their respective offices un- 
 til the expiration of the term for which they were respectively elected. 
 
 "11. Judicial officers in office when this constitution shall take effect may 
 continue to receive such fees and perquisites of office as are now authorized 
 by law, until the first day of July, 1847, notwithstanding the provisions of 
 the twentieth section of the sixteenth article of this constitution. 
 
 " 12. All local courts established in any city or village, including the su- 
 perior court, common pleas, sessions, and surrogate's courts of the city and 
 county of New York/ shall remain, until otherwise directed by the legislature 
 with their present powers and jurisdiction ; and the judges of such courts and 
 any clerks thereof in office on the first day of January, 1847, shall continue 
 in office until the expiration of their terms of office, or until the legislature 
 shall otherwise direct. 
 
 " 13. This constitution shall be in force from and including the first day of- 
 January, 1847, except as is herein otherwise provided." 
 
NEW YORK ELECTION. 287 
 
 Clause eight contains valuable reforms, but the judiciary of 
 this state is still in need of more. It is desirable to avoid sweep- 
 ing changes in our states, and I do not propose one. The adapta- 
 tion of the districts to the business is an easy thing, and the most 
 important part of the activity of our municipal legislatures. If 
 we prune the towns and counties and plant out new ones at the 
 right season, they will remain healthy and vigorous, and never rot, 
 or become the seat of corruption. Am I then not right, when I 
 say, that not exactly man, but the wrong, careless, political dis- 
 trictfng of our society is the cause of our troubles, and want of 
 public virtue ? The prevalent idea that a republic is a land 
 where rogues have fair play, must be destroyed by a good ad- 
 ministration of justice. 
 
 Some of my letters have been written, and also published, 
 during the late presidential campaign. If those should too much 
 savor of time, I wish you may bear in mind, that there will be 
 more presidential elections, more changes of United States dynas- 
 ties. With a few modifications, or modulations perhaps, the same 
 issues will be again started in 1860. Parties are, by our exceed- 
 ingly liberal federal constitution, narrowed down to a very few 
 platform topics for the feuds about the offices or spoils. This 
 force, however, is greater in proportion to the population of a 
 state. This induces me to spend a few lines on the result of this 
 election in the state of New York. I consider, on the whole, 
 the national election excitements as wholesome social movements, 
 because, by extending over an immense area, traversed by tele- 
 graphs and steam-engines, they promote, simultaneously, a most 
 variegated general investigation of important principles, and, 
 having more or less reference to the Union, quicken the instinct 
 of patriotism, which so easily dies away in the common business 
 routine of every day life. One of the foremost issues in the can- 
 vass of 1856, was the principle of free migration to new terri- 
 tories. With reference to the culture of land, there are two 
 classes of migrators in the United States, one depending upon 
 free, the other upon bound labor. They were represented by 
 political parties. The first pretended that Congress possessed the 
 right to forbid the bound-labor migration to new territories (free 
 soil) ; the latter sided with the present practice of Congress, sanc- 
 tioned by the Kansas and Nebraska act, mentioned by me before, 
 
288 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 namely, that Congress has no power to exclude this kind of migra- 
 tion, and that it lodged in the legislatures of the states in concern. 
 This party has been, generally successful in the election of 1856, 
 but not in the state of New York (although in New York city), 
 and this appears as a curious freak of public opinion. It is, 
 under the federal constitution, as we have seen, a matter of course, 
 that the inhabitants of these territories have, when they form a 
 state, the right to decide for themselves whether bound labor 
 shall be tolerated therein, or not. The result of this policy 
 should now be, that there never will be formed again a state ex- 
 pressly sanctioning bound labor, where free labor is practicable. 
 Free labor being the rule, all unsettled territories, and all slave 
 states, are open to unlimited immigration from all states, and, ac- 
 cording to the present practice, from all parts of the world, China 
 included. On the side of free labor we have in the United States 
 seventeen millions, in the Canadas four millions, in Europe about 
 one hundred millions, and in Asia uncounted millions, furnishing 
 immigrants, while on the side of bound labor we have but ten 
 millions, all counted, or more properly, only six millions, after 
 deducting four millions of bound laborers, who can not migrate 
 on their own account, furnishing immigrants. Can there be a 
 chance of a majority in a territory or a new state, fit for white 
 labor, for the immigration from the six millions on the side of 
 slave-labor, against the immigration from the uncounted millions 
 on the side of free labor? I should. think not, and so thought 
 Governor Hammond in a late speech. But, as long as the Mis- 
 souri compromise divided the Union in two parts, people on the 
 southern or bound-labor side had a right to the formation of slave 
 states south, and Congress was bound to support them, if this line 
 drawn by an act of Congress had not been a mere abstraction. 
 But, by the abolition of this line, "the greatest liberty is given to 
 migration. 
 
 Was it not now, I ask, after this digression, rather singular that 
 the people in the state of New York, through which flows the great 
 mundane stream of eastern migration on rivers and lakes, on state 
 canals and railroads, voted at that time against free migration, 
 which is so highly advantageous for those public and diverse pri- 
 vate interests. 
 
 The vox populi, as Franklin says, never can be the vox dei, 
 
PRISONS. 289 
 
 unless it comes from honest men. It is -to be seen at the next 
 national election what will be the pleasure of this vox populi in 
 this .leading state. 
 
 But, my dear children, I have done now with this great state 
 and its constitution. May my unpretending remarks lead to fur- 
 ther investigations and more thorough inquiries into the art of 
 realizing justice, especially at the present time, when soon a popu- 
 lar vote will be cast on the organic law of this commonwealth. 
 
 LETTER XXI. 
 
 Prisons. Penal Colonies on the Western Plains, in the Rocky Mountains. 
 Police. Prison Associations. Missionary Societies. Bible. 
 
 THE best laws remain inert if not well executed. The moral 
 tendency of the laws and the aim for which they are made, viz., 
 the protection of life and property, require punishment and re- 
 straint of criminal unruly men. It is one of the uncomfortable 
 qualities of republics, that they are rather favorable to the devel- 
 opment and accumulation of mischief. Liberty, sweet liberty, 
 will be abused by children and adults. The stream of migration 
 does not alone fertilize our world-wide territory, no, it also depos- 
 ites, especially in large places where people are fond of congre- 
 gating, mischievous detritus. Macchiavelli thought of that, and 
 gave his prince the advice to take good care of the amusement 
 and industry of his subjects by shows, circences, exhibitions, pop- 
 ular festivals, following an old maxim of mothers who, when teased 
 by mischievous children, try to divert their mind by play or pleas- 
 ant occupation, well knowing that this is a better method of cor- 
 recting mischievous habits, than scolding, whipping, or coercing. 
 Mischievous adults should be disciplined in a similar manner. 
 
 Instead of confining them in penitentiaries, the special object 
 of this letter, and forcing them with the whip to work for the ad- 
 vantage of speculators, and depriving them of the free exercise 
 of their will, the great agent of self-improvement, we should rather 
 try to occupy them on the common land out west with labor for 
 their own exclusive benefit. Instead of forming factory-labor 
 
 13 
 
290 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 penal-colonies in Sing Sing and Auburn, we should establish agri- 
 cultural and industrial penal colonies on our great western plains, 
 on the grazing grounds of the buffaloes, in the Rocky mountains, 
 on the Mexican frontiers, for the alarmingly-increasing great num- 
 ber of convicts. This local advantage renders the plan very 
 practicable. 
 
 Statesmen or politicians who really wish to manage the state 
 according to St. Paul's sound doctrine, that is, for the true benefit 
 of the fallen man, should take warning from the rapid progress 
 of kindred arts and sciences. The noble medico-surgical art, 
 which aims at the delivery of man from physical suffering?, but 
 half a century ago shed streams of blood to cure fevers, which 
 are in most instances simple curative reactions of the system, now 
 controlled by a few harmless medicaments or water, and crippled 
 thousands by perilous operations, now obviated by simply assisting 
 nature in restoring the injured limb. What immense change has 
 also come over theology, the time-honored art of curing sin ? Is 
 there now a single common-sense man in Christendom who thinks 
 or believes that religion without good works is of any use ? where 
 are the votaries of idolatry, self-castigation, witchcraft? I dare 
 not describe the stupendous progress of the mechanical arts in all 
 their branches. Where are the caravals, show-coaches, wooden 
 telegraphs, blunderbusses, etc. 1 ? Shall then the most noble art of 
 politics, which has to cure lawlessness, dishonesty, aud crime, re- 
 main with its penitentiary and workhouse castles, and other 
 clumsy contrivances for ever behind time? It should be the 
 greatest ambition of a free generous people to reform those anti- 
 quated things. Neither man, animal, nor plant will ever improve 
 in prison confinement. Liberty .is the basis and essence of the 
 development of everything. If the good old book says : " let the 
 captive free," it means, place him there where liberty does not 
 tempt him to do wrong. Congress and states must, in this regard, 
 act in harmony. Both are appointed for the realization of justice. 
 They have nothing else to do. 
 
 The acquisition of immense tracts of wild land by Congress, 
 on general grounds of- doubtful policy, may become a source of 
 infinite benefit for society, if made use of for penal colonies. Cir- 
 cumstances make the man ; alter these and you will alter him, for 
 the worse or better. 
 
POLICE. 291 
 
 None of our constitutions are against the establishment of 
 such settlements. If Congress has a right to bore for water in 
 our western desert and introduce camels there, it can not object 
 to the locating of colonies calculated to make use of that water 
 and the ships of the desert. If the riding on camels shall not 
 remain an amusing occupation of our lieutenants, we must plant 
 our own thriving Arabs in the desert to profit by them. 
 
 Our state constitutions in particular are also not against this 
 plan. If they allow to shut men up in castles, and force them to 
 work there against their will and inclination, even interfering thus 
 with the labor of honest business men outside, they can not forbid 
 to place men under the canopy of heaven, on common land, in 
 order to found by labor a new home and better life. There is 
 obviously nothing unconstitutional in the plan. 
 
 The actual practice of the governors of New York state is in 
 favor of penal colonies ; for they begin to pardon criminals under 
 the condition that they will quit the county or state, as the case 
 may be. This seems to be an imitation of the English circumlo- 
 cution practice in Australia, where convicts are set at liberty under 
 the condition that they will quit her Majesty's dominions. Still, 
 however this may be, it will terminate in something like a penal 
 colony ; for no state will permit such expelled criminals to take 
 up their residence therein. The " Sydney Ducks," as these Aus- 
 tralian legal exiles were called in California, were hung by the 
 vigilance committees, after they had played for a while with the 
 courts the game of hide-and-seek. Our politicians have no time 
 to attend to such business as the realization of justice ; their office 
 affairs absorb it entirely. People therefore must turn their minds 
 to this subject, if they wish to have their property and lives pro- 
 tected by a good administration of justice. 
 
 That part of the judiciary, which has to maintain order in large 
 towns is better known now under the name of police, a force which 
 in large cities is organized, uniformed, drilled, and paraded like 
 standing-army soldiers. Its business is to find out offenders, 
 arrest them, and deliver them to the courts for trial and punish- 
 ment. Its operation is local, and therefore a part of the local 
 jurisdiction of cities, towns, and villages. As it works at present, 
 its reputation is at stake, unless a regular thinning off of the 
 villains, especially in densely-built towns, shall soon be resorted to 
 
292 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 by transporting them ; for the rogues and police, as matters now 
 stand, play, indeed, a kind of hide-and-seek game, to the apparent 
 satisfaction of all concerned, except the people, who have to pay 
 the police bills. If the rogues are not out on their peculiar nightly 
 business cruises, the police accommodate them also with lodging 
 in the station-houses. The punishment amounts in the main to 
 nothing but the providing of the villains in fine castles with better 
 board and lodging than they enjoy when they are at liberty. 
 When they leave those castles, the hide-and-seek game with the 
 police is generally played over and over again, at the expense of 
 the generous people, who, although grumbling, pay the enormous 
 costs good-humoredly. These remarks apply to all large cities 
 here and in Europe, London and Paris included. They are all 
 wretchedly managed in this respect. We complain that this game 
 is especially enjoyed by immigrants. Well, in the name of com- 
 mon sense, why not at once transport those amateur rogues and 
 voyageur villains to regions where stern necessity will force them 
 to become honest laborers ? To give land to those villains whose 
 greatest fault is that they have none and are not honest laborers, 
 is most certainly sounder doctrine than to bestow it on schools or 
 universities. The state institution has to coerce and tame villains, 
 and not to teach good children and educate nice young men. By 
 doing the first, it protects the lives and property of those good men 
 who support the institution ; by doing the latter, it unbecomingly 
 tampers with private business. Are not those castles, then, mere 
 monuments of unsound doctrine and political errors ? Moreover 
 there is a mass of forces already at work which may easily be 
 turned to very good purposes in this direction. 
 
 I mention first the prison associations. It must be clear to 
 them that as long as the usual state-prison system prevails their 
 exertions will turn in an eternal circle. To free a man from 
 prison upon the pledge of reform is very well ; but the frequent 
 relapse of the mischievous into their old sins proves that society 
 gains nothing by it. 
 
 Another force to be made available here is the missionary 
 societies. No convict likes his prison with all its appendages of 
 chapels, schools, shower-baths, chains, whips, etc. And this is 
 natural. Set him free in a distant settlement, under penalty of 
 death upon leaving it voluntarily, and he will organize schools, 
 
ABOLITIONISTS. 293 
 
 build churches, appoint instructors himself, and like them in the 
 bargain. A missionary will be his real comforter. Scoffers, who 
 in their old homes would never listen to a sermon, opened with 
 alacrity, in the California mining ranges, their saloons to the itin- 
 erant preachers. 
 
 The occasion is proper to speak further that the abolitionists 
 are bound to second this plan. Their professed object is to 
 deliver man from involuntary slavery or. bondage. Now there 
 are in our society no greater involuntary slaves than criminals 
 shut up in state-prisons. It is true that our African bound 
 laborer has a limited sphere of action ; can not wander, can not 
 use his full time and abilities as he pleases ; still, he is reared in 
 this condition ; it is his habit, and habit, a kind of bondage, is 
 second nature. He has no higher aspiration, and, as a general 
 thing, is perfectly satisfied with his situation as the slave of labor, 
 so that he even honestly and voluntarily returns to his master, if 
 once decoyed away from him. He obviously is not in need of a 
 liberator, and does not ask for one, and if he wishes to be free he 
 can become so by his own exertion. But compare with him the 
 slave of crime the convict. He is brought up in liberty; per- 
 haps the spoiled son of wealth, and, if the child of poverty and 
 vice, has tasted the sweets of freedom, although perhaps con- 
 sisting only in grog-shop revelry and gratuitous harangues of 
 demagogues. What a hell must be for him a penitentiary, 
 established by law by the same men with whom he used to asso- 
 ciate on equal terms ! With what infinite pleasure would such 
 a man, if there is but a spark of humanity in his heart, bear 
 all deprivations in the loneness of God's wild nature, if he only 
 can thus escape from the drear cell-existence in a watch-sur- 
 rounded state-prison ! No man need be a slave of crime ; but 
 no man can help being more or less a slave of labor. The Bible 
 teaches this. 
 
 All agree that our criminal-law system and its working is radi- 
 cally wrong. It is nowhere much better in view of the reform 
 of the villains. But it must be admitted that colonizing has 
 always produced the best results. Siberia becomes thus an 
 inhabited and even civilized country. Criminals have made 
 Australia inhabitable. How much of our far west has been cul- 
 tivated by outcasts is difficult to prove, but easily imagined. Our 
 
294 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 great west is a fit home for used-up men to recruit morally and 
 financially. The greatest and most efficient lever of our culture 
 is honest labor. In dense society the chances of it for a criminal 
 are but few ; but in the mentioned regions, most abundant and 
 brilliant. If this well-tried and very practical plan is carried 
 out with circumspection and energy, the telegraphs and railroads 
 which must soon span those regions will find much support by it. 
 This may suffice for my purpose. 
 
 LETTER XXII. 
 
 Large Cities. Baltimore, Maryland. Political History. The People 
 One Assembly. First Constitution, 1650. Extract. Voting. Slav- 
 ery. Abolition. Divided Legislature. Trouble. Revolution. Con- 
 stitution of 1776. Amended. Judiciary Appointed. Constitution of 
 1851. Elective Judiciary. Executive elected by Districts. City and 
 Country Jealousy. Cities Republics of the Middle Age. Feuds with 
 the Country Nobility. Free Cities of Germany. Switzerland. Large 
 American Cities. Their Separation from the Country. More such 
 Separations. Apathy and Disgust with the City Affairs. New Orleans. 
 Baltimore Vote on the Amending the Constitution. Hanse Towns. 
 Crimes of English Law. Macaulay. Atlantic Telegraph States. 
 
 FROM a paternal desire to make my politico-constitutional ex- 
 plorations as complete and instructive as possible, I beg your at- 
 tention a little longer for a few stray remarks on large cities. 
 These are not only the hiding places of rogues, but also the cen- 
 tres of enterprise, arts, sciences, munificence, and, moreover, the 
 germs of young states and empires. 
 
 Who would forget what Boston, with her Hancocks, has done 
 for this great republic ? Alas ! for human inconsistency ! The 
 same city is now the nucleus of an implacable faction against this 
 Union ! Of New York, state and city, I have written enough. 
 Turn now your eyes to Maryland, with Baltimore as a centre, 
 even more overtowering the little Oyster-bay state than stately 
 New York city the Empire state. It is in the same labor-pains 
 
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND. 295 
 
 as New York, in regard to the regeneration of its constitution, 
 while I am writing. Its legislative history is interesting. In 
 consequence of the very liberal charter to the " proprietor," the 
 Marylanders were permitted to make their own laws, and. be- 
 ing all freemen of the same stamp, religion, competency, and aspi- 
 rations, made every one of them an assemblyman. This is the 
 only specimen of popular sovereignty which I have met with in 
 history. But, as it was to be expected, this state, formed by sov- 
 ereigns, caused nothing but trouble, lasted only a very short time. 
 As early as 1639, a representative house of assembly was elected, 
 and, in 1650, the first written constitution enacted, by which the 
 legislature was divided between the people and the proprietors ! 
 The result of this double-headed organization was constant dis- 
 cord, until the Revolution made an end of it, and was followed by 
 the constitution of 1776, which ordained in the main: 
 
 That the legislature shall consist of a senate and house of dele- 
 gates, under the name of General Assembly of Maryland, meet- 
 ing annually, to be elected " by the qualified freemen." (That is 
 all the suffrage law we find in this constitution.) 
 
 That a person of wisdom, experience, and virtue shall be choseu 
 as governor, by the joint ballot of both houses, for three years. 
 
 That five of the most sensible, discreet, and experienced men 
 shall be elected by the senators and delegates, to be. the council to 
 the governor, of whom the first shall be acting governor during 
 vacancy. 
 
 That the governor, with the advice of the council, shall appoint 
 the judiciary as the chancellor, all judges and justices, attorney- 
 general, officers in the regular land and sea service, officers of the 
 militia, registers of land office, surveyors, and all other civil offi- 
 cers, (assessors, constables police, overseers of the roads, sheriffs 
 excepted,) and suspend, and remove any civil officer, who has not 
 a commission, during good behavior. 
 
 There is no mention at all made of slavery, which proves that 
 people wisely considered it not as a political thing, but as a mere 
 matter of domestic life, which, without laborers, bond or free, can 
 not exist. 
 
 This is a significant fact. It shows the Africans were in America 
 as in Africa not slaves by law, but by usage. And I am satisfied that, 
 in our days, very few of them care little about the laws and consti- 
 
296 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 tutions, being entirely satisfied with this usage or custom. This 
 is wholesome second nature. Those bound laborers, hired out in 
 cities, perhaps, excepted, none would leave their masters, if servi- 
 tude could be abolished by the stroke of the pen, without the pre- 
 vious consent of both masters and slaves. Has the law more in- 
 fluence upon free labor ? 
 
 This constitution has been often amended. In regard to the 
 judiciary, the state was, in 1803, divided into six districts, for 
 each of which were appointed a chief-judge and two associates, 
 who composed the county-courts in each respective district. In 
 1805, a court of appeals was created, whose members were to be 
 appointed by the governor and council. In 1810 it was enacted, 
 that the rights of voting shall belong to every white (mark the 
 word !) male citizen of above twenty-one years of age, having re- 
 sided twelve months within the state and six months in the county. 
 In 1837, the article of the constitution was abolished which prohib- 
 ited the members of the general assembly to hold any office of 
 profit, as also the council, and the senate were created advisers to 
 the governor. At that time it was also ordained, that the relation 
 between a master and slave shall not be abolished, except under 
 certain forms and for compensation. This shows the effect of a 
 political opposition to this domestic affair. 
 
 In 1851, the present constitution was established, and the prin- 
 cipal difference from the prior one is, that it makes, in imitation 
 of New York, the judiciary and principal administrative officers 
 elective, and creates a kind of triangular state for the election of 
 the governor, by providing that it shall be divided into three dis- 
 tricts, from one of which he is to be elected every four years. 
 This is a peculiar feature, not occurring in any one of the sev- 
 eral states of the Union, to my knowledge. 
 
 This proviso, by obviously instituting a clannish executive, more 
 for a part than the whole state, must have been suggested by the 
 old antagonism or jealousy hovering between country and city,* 
 
 * Traces of this jealousy appear on the surface of the New York harbor 
 quarantine difficulty, the remote cause of which, however, is the misplace- 
 ment of the whole business. This is neither a county, city, or state, but a 
 national or congressional business. Taking first our own ships, those, from 
 the time of their clearance until they are discharged again, sail under con- 
 gressional papers, authority, and protection. When they arrive at quaran- 
 
COUNTRY VERSUS CITY. 297 
 
 which, in the middle age, was the cause of that brilliant galaxy 
 of spirited, enterprising, intellectual city republics, the remnants 
 of whom are the present free cities of Germany. Switzerland is 
 indebted to them for its independence. They lived in endless 
 feuds with the country nobility and their retainers. They became, 
 when victorious, proud and oppressive, and, especially in Italy, 
 the theatres of internal commotions, and then an easy prey of 
 mighty princes and their intrigues. This is natural. The demo- 
 cratic form of government can not alter human nature. Business 
 interests will separate the cities still from the country, and pro- 
 duce mischievous antagonism, which, in the length, can not be 
 overcome but by a divorce. Manhattan Island, with over 600,000 
 inhabitants, mostly city people, is overripe for a state, requiring 
 a careful, very active political management. Philadelphia, cover- 
 ing an area of 129^ square miles, with a circumference of 74| 
 miles, and more than 400,000 inhabitants is for all practical pur- 
 poses also a state. Brooklyn, with Long Island, is ripe for state 
 organization. Baltimore, and other great marts must follow in the 
 same wake. And, discerning statesmen will admit the necessity 
 of dissections of this kind for the counties east of the Mohawk river, 
 Western Virginia with Wheeling, Southern Ohio with Cincin- 
 nati, etc. I can not forego here the remark that time and mu- 
 tual advantage required similar divorces between Holland and 
 Belgium, Greece and Turkey, and they can not be, in the length, 
 avoided in the Danubian provinces, Austria, Russia, England, 
 France, and other overgrown states. The monarchs will oppose 
 it, still justice and civilization require such dividing to reform 
 the corruption inseparable from over-large centralized govern- 
 ments. It is a law of nature, and not a merelaxiom, that only 
 small states preserve their manners well. Our practical federal 
 constitution has wisely foreseen those changes. It remains, then, 
 only for the practical people, and their statesmen, to come at the 
 right time to an understanding about that which is " overgrown," 
 
 tine, they alter not their character, especially not when the quarantine should 
 be established by state or city laws and officials. It is mere circumlocution 
 to allow state quarantine in ocean harbors, of which alone I speak. In re- 
 gard to foreign vessels, those know nothing at all about ocean state laws and 
 government. Congress can enforce by soldiers and vessels of war quaran- 
 tine laws, but not the state or a city, because both have no such forces. 
 
 13* 
 
298 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 and act accordingly. A certain symptom of this political disease, 
 " overgrown," is the apathy of the better class of the inhabitants 
 of overgrown cities in regard to their administration, and the spas- 
 modic efforts to shake off the incubus under which they suffer. 
 They are disgusted with their unwieldly administration, and their 
 tampering with it by the legislatures, composed, of men who do 
 not appreciate their state-like city interests, or, if they do, con- 
 sider and treat them as fat party spoils. The question is, then, 
 how can this apathy and disgust be- cured ? 
 
 If the legislatures can not help that, and do not understand the 
 importance of the local municipal interests of such large places, 
 how will their citizens alter that? Simply by a timely divorce, 
 just as grown-up children separate from the paternal stock and 
 try their hand in self-management. A town which has absorbed 
 a county and acquired the corpulence of a state, ought to be or- 
 ganized as a state. Nothing. short of that will cure that incubus- 
 like apathy and disgust of the citizens. The best and wisest of 
 the parents lose their hold on out-grown children. And such a 
 separation will at once shiver that pestilential intrigue to atoms, 
 which in the far-off capitals nestles and manages those large cities' 
 to the disgust of their inhabitants. They never will get rid of it 
 otherwise. This also will restore the authority of the judiciary 
 in such places. You may then understand the vote of the citi- 
 zens in Baltimore in May, 1858, FOR the amending of the consti- 
 tution of 1851, with an elective judiciary, and that of the coun- 
 try people AGAINST it. 
 
 You may think that a dividing of those large cities into sepa- 
 rate municipalities, or independent business districts, would better 
 answer for a lo(*al reform than a state organization. It would, no 
 doubt, improve their administration, provided the legislatures alter 
 entirely their policy of intermeddling, which virtually would 
 amount to a divorce. Still, that a political party should do this I 
 have great doubts. I cheerfully admit that all legislatures are not 
 incompetent, all cities are not treated like New York or Balti- 
 more, still every one of them (even in puritan New England), 
 containing upward of forty thousand inhabitants, is suffering from 
 public corruption, debts, high taxes, etc., as I mentioned before. 
 
 It should then be obvious to every person, that in the right 
 proportion of population, state (county, town), size and business 
 
DIVISION OF STATES. 299 
 
 is the arcanum of good government, especially in republics. Be- 
 ing common law with us that the people, and not Congress, make 
 states, it is a plain duty of the people to make them and their 
 subdivisions adequate to this proportion. Our present states, in 
 regard to size, are either the product of mere accident, that is, of 
 charters given by far-off monarchs who did not know the country, 
 or 'of congressional arrangements for momentary territorial pur- 
 poses. Of course, Nebraska, Kansas, and California, as large as 
 continental Europe without Russia, are not destined to be but three 
 states for all time to come ! Let us then adjust our political dis- 
 tricts right for the business in order to have this well done. A 
 good system in business is the first thing needful, then comes the 
 appointing of the right kind of business-men and their control. 
 Those never work well without the first. Whoever has been once in 
 the office of one of our city mayors, that of New York especially, 
 and noticed with what mere clerical trash of every-day routine 
 business, belonging to regular courts and clerks, they are burden- 
 ed, will easily understand why they have no time for a careful 
 surveillance over all branches of the city administration, and the 
 respective clerks and subalterns. The usual system is English 
 circumlocution. There, the lord-mayor must positively tie the 
 sacred knot, do the business of a justice of the peace or police court. 
 Our own old articles of confederation were strictly English, that 
 is, circumlocution. A little attention to the present state of the 
 public affairs in England, and the parliamentary proceedings, blue 
 books, reform propositions, debates, and special committee reports 
 on military and civil service, will convince that a great change is 
 going on there. 
 
 It is habit, wholesome second nature, which helps the English 
 subject to bear the " crimes of English law," as Lord Macaulay 
 has it. But the citizens of the United States have done with that. 
 
 By-the-by, I never heard of vigilance committees and election 
 riots, a la Baltimore, Washington, New Orleans, etc., in the lit- 
 tle German Hanse republics. They behave well, and are doing 
 well at home and abroad. Even when Europe is in a blaze, 
 kindled in France or elsewhere, they are quiet. They have, as 
 you know, the largest merchant fleet in Europe after the English, 
 but, keeping no navy, they can not afford to luxuriate in opium, 
 calico, civilization wars, negro blockades, and visiting of other 
 
300 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 peoples' ships in the Gulf of Mexico or elsewhere. Their sea- 
 men protect themselves by good habits, and are, therefore, not 
 unlike ladies, everywhere respected. Their history is, indeed, a 
 beautiful little chapter in the book of civil liberty. But this pic- 
 ture would-fade like flowers when touched by winter frost, if they 
 should lose their sweet liberty by annexation or subjection. Their 
 blessed neutrality induces to the hope, that the towns where the 
 Atlantic telegraph taps the land, may be, in the course of time, 
 declared neutral, and become something like Hanse towns. 
 
 It is good that there are some republics left in Europe, to serve 
 as precedents. 
 
 LETTER XXIII. 
 
 Morals. Virtues and Vices. Material of History, Arts, Novels, Dramas, 
 Tragedies. Washington. Citizen Government. Military Govern 
 ment. Priest Government. Mexico. The Canadas. British North- 
 west Territory. The Lord's Prayer. Conclusion. 
 
 I AM afraid I have often dwelled too long in the preceding 
 letters upon the social moral influence of state institutions, and, 
 indeed, all my aim has been to induce people and their public 
 men to realize by them exclusively, justice, the first of all virtues; 
 but left it to you and my readers to find out exactly what it is. 
 Every unselfish, sensible man may learn this first by his own 
 experience, reason, and conscience ; and secondly, from the pre- 
 cepts of religion, the narratives of history, and the example and 
 history of good and bad men. What is right the law tells. 
 Being but men, and not angels, we are not destined to absolute 
 moral perception ; and to this state it must be attributed that in 
 conformity with a dualism pervading the whole known creation, 
 two kinds of forces are eternally at work in our life, which influ- 
 ence our actions and mould our destiny. To facilitate the mem- 
 ory of them I have put them down in parallel. Those of a more 
 plastic nature have been beautifully personified by the ancients. It 
 is perhaps superfluous to add that the virtues are promotive of con- 
 tent and happiness, and the vices, of disappointment and misery 
 in individuals and states. This is our inexorable fate. Good 
 
MORAL FORCES. 301 
 
 and bad deeds are recorded in the book of time with indelible 
 ink. From the judgment of conscience there is no appeal, no 
 pardon. The remorse of a bad deed remains for ever. Read 
 then : 
 
 MORAL FORCES. 
 
 VIRTUES. 
 Justice, 
 
 Self-control, Attention. 
 Honesty. 
 Veracity, Truth. 
 
 Prudence, Politeness . 
 
 Piety, Charity. 
 
 Modesty, Simplicity. 
 
 Economy. 
 
 Patience. 
 
 Sobriety. 
 
 Pudicity. 
 
 Industry. 
 
 Conscientiousness. 
 
 Fortitude, Glory, Patriotism. 
 
 Righteousness. 
 
 Love. 
 
 Humanity. 
 
 VICES. 
 Injustice. 
 
 Carelessness, Recklessness. 
 Faithlessness, Dishonesty. 
 Falsehood, Calumny, Intrigue, 
 
 Slander, Hypocrisy. 
 Imprudence, Inurbanity. 
 Profanity, Inhumanity, Avarice. 
 Impudence, Extravagance. 
 Prodigality. 
 Passion. 
 Intemperance. 
 Lewdness, Free Love. 
 Laziness, Loaferism. 
 Treachery, Perfidy. 
 Cowardice, Bombast, Treason. 
 Villany, Corruption. 
 Hatred, Vengeance. 
 Cruelty, Barbarism. 
 
 EFFECT. 
 Order, Peace, Happiness. \ Anarchy, War, Misery. 
 
 This is life's material. Justice crowns the column of virtues. 
 The just man combines within himself all virtues. He, accord- 
 ing to St. Paul,* needs no law, no state. Such a man was George 
 Washington. He was just to mankind and to himself. He 
 thought that in our age society may derive from the citizen gov- 
 ernment what neither military nor priest government have brought, 
 viz., justice. He had a firm faith in his cause and a just God. 
 
 Let me now conclude these letters. If they should only con- 
 vince those who take a sincere interest in our public affairs, that 
 in our time the good management of the municipal affairs is in- 
 finitely more important for the true welfare of society than diplo- 
 macy, with her eternal wily intrigues for power and conquest, I 
 should feel satisfied. 
 
 * The passage in question reads thus : " But we know that the law [stat^j 
 is good, if a man use it lawfully ; knowing this that the law [state] is not 
 made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the un- 
 godly and for the sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers 
 and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers, for those that 
 defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured per- 
 sons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine." 
 
302 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Reform of public corruption must begin near home. Great 
 events are ripening before our doors. Mexico is fast collapsing. 
 The Canadas and British Northwest provinces are daily gaining 
 in importance. They will form free states, either separate or 
 united with us. But will they desire a union under present 
 aspects ? Time will answer this question, not I. 
 
 " It is righteousness which exalteth a nation." We are free to 
 choose the roads to order, peace, and happiness, or to anarchy, 
 war, and misery. 
 
 Before you lay the book aside, please peruse once more its pre- 
 face. I there maintain that a state institution is either the most 
 powerful agent to promote the sense of honesty and justice, the 
 mother of public -virtue, or the most effective machinery to sow 
 the seeds of vice, from which public corruption springs up, broad- 
 cast over the land. I have tried in this book to show how the 
 latter may be prevented, that this institution may not be further- 
 more abused anywhere for fraud, peculation, and corrupting con- 
 trivances of all kinds, counteracting and neutralizing the influence 
 of the church, school, and home education. 
 
 I must confess that one of my leading ideas was derived from 
 a petition in the Lord's prayer, " Lead us not into temptation," 
 applied to statesmen, politicians, and their parties generally. 
 People nowhere should tempt them with other business than the 
 realization of justice ; because this, and nothing else, will prevent 
 public corruption, as much as it can be done. Sapienti sat. 
 
 Contribute, then, your mite to the honor of our great and beau- 
 tiful country. ADIEU. 
 
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