CHAPTER IX. DEMOCRACY. WE have already seen that the government of America is now a pure Democracy, without check or stay; it is free from all agitation for increase of power to the many, for they possess all. In the formation of their Government they had no difficulties to contend with, no conflicting principles to embarrass them, no small but powerful class enjoying vested rights, ready to defend them to the utmost and to revenge their loss, no memory of oppression to wipe out with retribution, no individual or corporation willing or able to make an effort for power. They had no existing depository wherein to place the supreme rule; they declined creating one, and kept it to themselves in each different State, as well as in the Federal Government, no matter what were the varieties of race circumstances. or social At first sight, it would appear probable that the people would select the most able and virtuous men from among those whose views suited their own, to be their organs of administration; as, of course, they are anxious for the prosperity of the State to which they belong. But the practical effect of their system is, that such men are nearly excluded from any share in public. The mass of the electors are men not sufficiently enlightened to make a good choice; and it cannot be expected that the majority of individuals among the working classes should be able to discover and discriminate the powers of a statesman. They are, therefore, very liable to choose a person without these qualifications, but possessing the art of making them believe that he has them, and of assimilating himself to their tastes. Again, many men are jealous of the advantages of office, and do not like to add them to the already enviable distinction of merit ; this superiority would be obnoxious to a powerful, though unacknowledged, feeling of the human heart. Wealth is often a stumbling-block in a candidate's way people are not exactly angry with him for being rich, but there is a sense of irritation in their not being so too; neither is he, they think, one of themselves. Men enjoying the qualifications held necessary for public office in other countries, most likely withdraw from the arena altogether in this, finding that their merits are actual drawbacks to their chance of success. In ordinary times, it is not, perhaps, essential to have eminent talent and virtue at the head of affairs; for their direction is held and controlled by the people in times of peril, when the people must, for a season, trust this guidance to individuals, they have usually the good sense to choose better if their choice does not answer, they change, but in the mean time, much mischief may have been done. In the Southern and Western States, where education is imperfect, religion and morality but weak, society but imperfectly organized the selections of their representatives are sometimes peculiarly unhappy. In the North and East, where the better influences are most favourable in their action, more virtuous and conservative men are usually chosen. The Senate-which is the chosen of the chosen, is amazingly purified by this double election: it contains nearly every great and good man in public life, and its decisions are very frequently contrary to those of the House of Representatives, the direct delegates of the people. Both houses have usually the same political end in view; but the Senate is more judicious and virtuous in the means of attaining it. The most able and philosophic writer who has of late years examined the government of America, is inclined to extend still further this system of double election, as the only safeguard against the dangers of Democracy. This is, indubitably, true, but it is prescribing to the patient a remedy which nothing will tempt him to accept; he is unconscious of any malady, and will not give up a dearlycherished privilege, to effect what he thinks an unnecessary cure. As matters now stand, one great inconvenience of the pure Democracy is that laws constantly change; a taste for variety is one of its strongest characteristics. They make an effort and pass a law; they soon find that it has not all the good effects they calculated upon, disappointment follows, next, they wish to try something else. that law ceases to be a rock whereon a lighthouse may be built to warn man from danger, and becomes a shifting sand, where no beacon can be So moored that will stand a gust of popular excite ment. The austere Washington, the amiable Hamilton, and the ruthless Jefferson, all acknowledged the evils of Democracy: the most sanguine could only hold them as less than those of other forms of government. To the mass, the ignorant and poor, its advantages are, at best, doubtful; to the wise and rich it must be for ever odious. In this community there is no one to lead: their public officer, from the President downwards, has neither intrinsic influence nor honour: he is still the Tennessee attorney charged but to plead upon the briefs which they may supply; he is not the representative of their power, but its instrument in his political action, in his household, in his manner, he is but their creature; if the puppet cease to play according as they pull the string, they crush it. All men intrusted with power are paid-the Legislative bodies, the magistracy; it is part of the great scheme to render dependence absolute. The lower grades of the public service are amply remunerated; the higher are denied competence; for the sympathies of the power regulating all salaries are with the clerk, the office porter, and the |