Some  pinions of {he Prezz.
' This work is designed to enlighten the general realm on the subject of government, as it obtains in this country, and is a production
that cannot fail to be perused with profit by any citizen."-INoah's
,wzuiay Despatch.
" This bo(- is devoted to the great municipal interests of society,
and altogetier a hit in the right direction, and as such we  recomnmenid it to the attention of every intelligent voter, and, above all, to
that immaculate lass, our city fathers."-Hunt's Merchants' Iagazine.
,-~,Ve wish to see the MIUNICIPALIST in the hands of all farmers,
of all our citizens who take a sincere interest in the management of
oiir public affairs, in Congress, States, counties, towns, cities, and vill:-e.s  The parallel drawn between Washington's'Farewell Ad,drbes  and Mlacchiavelli's'Prince,' is alone worth the price of the
hook."-Country Gentleman.
People who wish to be better governed, must study the art of
organizing society politically.   The 1UNICIPALIST starts from the
opinion, supported by St. Paul, that government should be restricted
to the realization of justice, showing conclusively that the Federal
Coe;'sitution followed up this plan.  It is in favor of an appointed
Judiciary, of the family suffrage, and contains not only an explanatioui of the Federal Constitution, and that of the State of New-Yorkrecommending its alteration and amendment-but also other important documents, with useful remarks."-N. Y. Joturnal of Commerce.
'We  recommend a careful perusal of the MUNICIPALIST to our
readers, and we think that they will be pleased with its general tole
and spirit.  It contains a portrait of Washington, and wvill be an
acceptable companion to all who take an intelligent interest in political aHfairs and constitutional questions."-The News.
"'Tbis work contains many excellent suggestions, and well-con.
Ale; d comments on the history of the working of American instit.utio as."-Philadelphia North,4Amcrican. 
OPINIONS OF THIE PRESS.
'"We desire to commend this truly instructive and comprehensive
manual to the favorable consideration of all our readers. The attention of the ladies is invited to the work. It is written in the form of
familiar letters, and, with many wise and philosophic reflections,
contains a vast amount of information in regard to the structure and
operations of our National and State Constitutions and governments."-Godey's Lady's Book.
"We should judge that the MUXIcIPALIST would be found a very
useful book for politicians, and, indeed, for all who take an interest in
the welfare of our common country."-Hartford Christian Secretary.
"This work is devoted to the municipal interests of society, and
treats, with much candor, a variety of subjects, interesting to such as
would understand the theory of our government, the position of parties, and the prejudices of sectionIs."-Providence Post.
"This is a work of great research, thought, and labor, in which
the whole subject of internal government, in a republic, is investigated.  It is written with speci-al reference to the Constitution of
New-York, but the same principles apply as well to all the States.
It is a convenient book for politicians, young or old, whether engaged
in public life, or having only the interest that every citizen has in
public welfare."-Daily Spy, Worcester, Mass.
"We should think it a useful work."-Providence (R. I.) Journal.
"- This book contains highly valuable suggestions, opening a wide
field for thought and action, to citizens and statesmen. Farmers and
mechanics, forming the majority of the people-and may therefore
be called the conservators of liberty, order, and justice-should notice it. The book is not only embellished with a likeness of the great
Virginia farmer, but is also a real monument to this great man.'"Prairie Farmer, Chicago, Ill.
"The object of this work is a very important one.  It is well
written, and calculated to be highly useful."- Christian Family
Baptist, Chicago, Ill.
"The MUNICIPALIST is intended for familiar elucidation of the
Constitution, and to familiarize its provisions to the youth of the
country."-Daily Richmond Inquirer.
"This work is an appeal to renewed exertions for the creation of a
dignified American Judiciary."-San Francisco Bulletin.
ii 
I 
I 
INTERNAL 1tELATIONS
OF THE
CITIES, TOWNS, VILLAGES, COUNTIES,
AND
STATES OF THE UNION;
OR,
THE MiUNICIPALIST:
A
HIOGTILY USEFUL BOOK
FOR
fo t to:
"L'Etat c'est Moi."-LouIs XIV.-NAPOLrON L
"L'Etat c'est la Raison."-FREDERICK THr GREAT.
"L'Etat c'est la Justice."-cONSTITUTIO?  OF THE UlITED STATE&
SECOND EDITION.
NEW-YORK:
ROSS & TOUSEY, DEXTER & BROTHER,
AND
WMl. RADDE, 300 BROADWAY.
1859
B~r,Vfft t   -rs,    g,Sitsler,         alititilll5 anid faniilts.
0 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859,
BY WILLIAM RADDE,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New-York.
II
i1 
TO
HIS CHIIILDREN
AND
THE RISING GENERATION
THE FOLLOWING LETTERS
areit  3usrribh
BY THE AUTHOR.
-b  
PREFACE
TO THIE SECOND EDITION.
IT is due to the practical aid of a number of gentlemen Governor MIORGAN, Mayor TIEMANN, PETER COOPER-and many
lawyers, merchants, and others, as well as tpo the favorable opinion
of the press, that the first edition of the IUNICIPALIST has made,
under an amended title, room for the second edition. In pre paring it, we express our sincere thanks to all the friends of
this book for their support, and wish that this "timnely, useful,
and popular book, which places the political sciences upon the
firm rock of Holy Writ," may enjoy the patronage of all friends
-at home and abroad-of our system of government, as it has
been inaugurated by our Federal Constitution.
The vote of the people of the State of New-York on the
Constitutional Convention, in November, 1858, was but small,
viz., 155,120 against a Convention, and 139,748 in favor of it.
But, in the main, the result is like that of the vote in MIary
land, on the same subject, (see Letter XXII., Part II.,) viz.,
that the majority of the voters in the cities of New-York and
Brooklyn, like those in Baltimore, were for a Convention, and
those in the rural towns against it: a fact which, under pre valent circumstances, shows that the inhabitants of those cities
are decidedly against an elective Judiciary, while the farming
population think differently about it; and further, that, in re gard to realizing justice, there exists a necessity to organize
large cities entirely different from rural towns. It will be in
e 
PR ACE.
teresting to watch the result of the proposed voting on the
amending of the Constitution in Ohio-where the Judiciary is
also elective-in regard to Cincinnati.   The oversight of this
fact must, in the length, naturally lead to State separations, in
consequence of the immense interests which, in large cities,
come in question, and are not always appreciated elsewhere.
While, however, the Constitution ordains that in 1866-unless
anticipated by the Legislature-a similar vote shall be taken,
this book loses nothing of its bearing upon this act, rather gains
time for general circulation, and a more thorough, quiet investigation of this important subject.
One of our critics remarks, that this book is a monument
(perhaps the sincerest of all) to the memory of Washington
and his co-workers in the arduous  task of forming our Union
They founded an empire of peace.   Still, we  had our wars,
and even a show of civil war-the worst species of this kind of
political business-in the Territories of Kansas and Utah: the
latter mainly occupied by the Mormon sect, who call it, in their
official documents, the State of Deseret.
But this Mormon war seems to be a mere mystification. This
settlement is so remote from profitable intercourse with the
rest of society, that people there would suffer or starve, if not
supported by the gold of the United States Treasury. To get
as much as possible of it, they boldly defied the authority of
the Territorial Federal officers, who fled, and were, of course,
replaced by an army, spending much money there, while, since
the baffling of the federal authorities in the exercise of their
functions, according to their statement, continues as ever.
Meanwhile, the leaders of the sect use the political powers of
its members as town and county officers, jurors, legislators, &c.,
for the promotion of their peculiar Church, incorporated by the
so-called "State of Deseret," and possessed of almost all the
best land within the Territory, according to its act of incorpo
ration and trustworthy reports.
iv
'7W 
PREFACE.
Thus, by a faulty political districting, and organization of
society, cf which this book treats especially, our Federal
Government indirectly fosters Mormon arrogance, the Mormon
Church and harems of their priests, and-a Mormon empire
in embryo.
We point out this instance here, because the military expedition against the Mormons, and the pardon granted them, do
not seem to have altered their rebellious disposition, which,
obviously, cannot be cured by any measure short of the entire
abolition of the territorial organization of Utah, and its annexation to adjacent states or territories where this sect are not in
the ascendency.
Another recent instance of the paramount necessity of strict  organizing the public business, in conformity with the principles explained in this book, is the Post-Office Department.
Its recent report shows a deficit of four millions, while, in all
European states, this branch produces a net income. WVe insert here the following extract from an article in the NewYork Journal of Comnzerce.
"The mail business, obviously, is emphatically a retail or detail
business, requiring, accordingly, a set of men particularly trained for
it, working under a steady direction of men who understand the
business thoroughly, and an organization which renders it entirely
independent of law-doctors, who do not know anything about it. We
humbly venture the following plan:
"Divide the United States into a certain number of United States
mail districts: form in each district a United States mail company or
agency (not to be consolidated); let these do all the mail business,
inland and foreign, accruing to their districts, according to their own
tariffs; make them responsible for all losses, and let each give a
security for the faithful performance of their duties. The effect or
advantage of such an organization would be:
"1. The training of proper men for the business.
"2. Security of the public.
"3. Experienced direction.
-"54. Competition, and, consequently,  constant improvement and
:.pness.
v 
PREFACE.
"5. Cessation of all claims on the Treasury, for post-site, houses,
offices, &c.
"6. The establishing of a general exchange business, for a certain
class of remittances.
"7. Daily mails, almost everywhere.
"8. The termination of the franking privilege.
"9. The management of the whole in a true business manner.
"10. The cessation of party-influence and patronage."
To this article, written with reference to the IUNICIPALIST,
a correspondent to the same journal later added:  "That the
execution of this plan would result in a penny-postage for letters
within each district, and, consequently, in the whole United
States."   This arrangement, moreover, would create at once
an excellent American ocean mail-service.
The MIUNICIPALIST often dwells upon the dangers of undue
centralization. It is the main cause of the failure of the present mail business in the Union.
Several religious papers have noticed this book very favorably, and we hope that it ever will be welcome to the thinking Christian citizen, for being, from the preface to the last
page, based upon the precepts of our religion, a rare instance
in juridical commentaries, and political works ini general. 
PREFACE.
IT is customary to say that republics can not exist without public virtue.  There is much truth in this saying, which, also, is applicable to monarchies; but, by a careful study of the history of
both, it will be perceived that the causes of the downfall of republics in particular, are principally owing to their imperfect organization in regard to three entirely material, and constantly
varying subjects, namely: Population, Size of State, and its subdivisions, 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 fog 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 individuals composing them, seem to be lost sight of, and hence,
public corruption is constantly increasing.  Why, we ask again.
I
4 
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 machinery to sow the seed of vice, from which spring up public corruption, 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 discern, in this regard, a great difference even between  our D)wn
states, although all are republics.  Now, when we can not deny
that our society, although in the full possession of the most abundant moral and intellectual means for the general improvement of
which ever an age could boast, firom day to day is degeneriating,
we must necessarily come to the conclusion that our political institutions, 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 resolving,, without a dissenting vote, to take the sense of the people
on the amending of the constitution at the next November election. 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 legislature should, therefore, have not taken it, or the citizens, by surprise. 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 encroachments upon the simplest, clearest, and most sacred municipal rights of towns-at the defective management of the public
works-at the overpowering influence of the lobbies on the legislature-at the increase of public debt, taxes, crime, and mobism
-at the delay, confusion, and corruption, in the judicial procedures  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
6 
PREFACE.
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 revision of the constitution, perhaps involving an overhauling of
the whole state machinery.
The voting upon the amending of the constitution, at this period 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 opportunity to inform themselves thoroughly of those causes and remedies, and the paramount necessity of amending their present constitution, is the aim of this book.
This, so we thought, could not be done better than by a comprehensive 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 judiciary; from both states come loud complaints of a defective administration 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
7 
PREFACE.
organization, have been instrumental to produce the complainedof 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 public documents, partly in connection with our political fabric and
that of Europe:  among others,  "Washington's Farewell  Address," 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 doctrine" taken from Paul's first letter to Timothy, induce us to respectfully 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. Moreover 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 complained 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
8 
PREFACE.
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 drawing wisdom from the classical fountains, will remember the line
of            Virgil:
" I)iscite 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 indigenous American common law, emanating firom 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 confederation and the adoption of the present excellent federal constitution.
The municipalist advocates the alteration of the present constitution 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 sufficient knowledge of its public affairs, to prevent them from coming
1*
9 
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.
10 
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 OF 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
0
PART II.
LETTERS ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF NEW YORx... 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. I.-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 Confi deration of 1777. -New Con  stitution for a Society of European Descenldants, Africans, and Indians.  The Object, Union and an independent, l)owerful National Government,
excluding all Municipal Affairs, Bond Lab;or included.- The Contents in
Seven Articles............................................PAGi 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. - Famirly, 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  li,.s. -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............. 32
0. 
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 Scnate. - 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. -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.
14 
CONTENTS.
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  diers. - 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
15 
CONTENTS.
LETTER XVI.
Migration and Importation of Persons. -Importation of Slaves declared
Piracvy.- 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 Frankfotbrt. - 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. Hle, - Presidential Vacancy. - Acting
President. - Non-election. - Salary. - Homesty 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.
16 
CONTENTS.
-Consent of two-thirds of the Senate. -Jefferson. -Hamilton.- Removal from Office.-  Treaty with France. -French and English Alliance. -  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 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-seek  ing............................................................. 94
LETTER XXVI.
Judiciary. - Supreme Court. - Inferior Courts. - Salaries. -Appointed
durin't'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
17
I 
CONTENTS.
LETTER XXXI.
Man given to Lying. - Imtnperfect 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 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......... 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 Replubics. -
18 
CONTENTS.
Monarchs.-Greeks. -King Philip. -Amphyctionic Congress. -European 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. -Publie Debts.  Supreme Law of the Land. - Higher Law Reveries. - Religious and
Moral Precepts. - Channing.- Philosophical Opinions and Truths, no
Law.- Shliarpe's Rifles.......................................... 128
LETTER XXXVI.
Official Oath.- Religious Test abolished.   Party.- Unconstitutional Plat  forms. - Sliding Constitutions or Platforms.- Perjury.- Chaplatins.  Object of Religion.- Separation of Religion fiom the State.- E Pluribus
Untim.- Norvus Ordo Seculorum - Religious Intolerance.- Ratification
bv a Ma.jority 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
t      h      e        Press. -Assemblin,.-  Petition.- Great Br;tain. - Municipal Le  gislation.-               Right to bear ArTn s.- European Legislation.- Municipal.  District of Columbia. -         Q         uarrtering of Soldiers in Time of Peace.
Unre    asonable   Searches in Hous es. -   Grand jury Indictment. - Double
T r i a l s -           Process of Law. -  Private Property for Public Use.- Muni  cipal Legislation.- Speedy Public Trial b      y 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
Braelnch. - Stability of the Federal Constitution.................... 132
LETTER XXXVIII.
Washington's Letter to Congress with the Constitution. -Duties of Con  federated States and Indlividutals.- 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
19 
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. -
Hambturg. - Cities. - Villages. - Size of States, Counties, Towns. -
Philadelphia. - New York. - Centralization. - Mutual Control.- Euro pealn Large Places. - Monarchy.- Its Philosophy and Subl)stance. - 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 if' 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 States,
Health producing.- Social Movements in Europe destructive.- Fat-,ine,
Gold, Conquest, Religion, Liberty. -Main  Social-Impulses.-Liberty  I;,pulse of the Republican Party.-AmericarI Party acting unimputlsive.
-Dear Uniion-Il,ipulse 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
20 
CONTENTS.
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 WellBeing, 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. —IUUNICIPAL 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
21
S. 
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.- Utallh.  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. -Governoi,'s Duties. -Legislative Committees. -Lieutenant  Governor. -  Eligibilitv. - 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.
22
.1 
CONTENTS.
- 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
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
23
-LETTER XV. 
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
24 
PART FIRST.
THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT.
. LETTER I.
Introduction.-  Ci;ties of thli, Letters. -  Little Appreciation of the Federal
Constitittioin. -'lc Cli til i(  t Contito,ter, bitt no Governor. - Restoration
of the Atitt,'iritv of Lt,. -  I,,fluiitee of WVotinan.- I'esistance a'iainst the
Exe(ution of l. wn. -  Vi'ilTnie Committees.-  Ten-'houLsanid-Dollar Suib sc,il)tio,i for lil)eelioyn itn Kainsas.-ATncient Rome.-  Dingers to the
Con.,titntioin ain  Unioni.- Aiti:les of Confif deration of 1777.-New Con stitutiont for.i So(-cit   i of Etiopc.in Descettlants, Afr-icans, and Indians.
The ()llj.ct Unioi  a,nil an i,idependent, powerfill National Government,
eCx(lutidit., ill Municipal Afflirs, Bond Labor included.-  The Contents in
Seven Articles.
AIY  Di.AR  CHILDREIN:  I have often thought of writiing for
you. atid,f-rih.ips otliers too. a kind of common-sense commentary
on  tihe fede'al constitution;  and  why?   Because  I  have too
many iroof-; tlhat this o.gantic law is not so well known and appreciated as it deserves.   In a conversation I once had with one of
out most patriotic men and wiiters, on the state of our turbulent,
growing pul)lic aflairs, lie said, " Notlhiig can save  us but the
cliu,'ch."l  I lhave often inquired. in houses stocked  with books,
for a co)y of the fe(deral constitution, but in vain; there was
n,ne.  Thlis justifies wlat I sai(l.  If the church is our help,
why set ul) a constitution at all?  Why organize a state or Congress?  Is not tlhe clioitch oldlei than  our UiioIi?  Whly  has
the church never checked political corruption?   What society is
2 
THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT.
losing by the bad administrntion of the law., and excesses of par ties andl factions, no (lhur(.h, (']Ii-tian or not, c(n  restore, unless
the church  turns state.   Religion can comfort  men  wlhen suffering firom anarchy; a Christian  )reaclier may exhort rioters and
rebels to keep the peace; church  oranizations may  cliaritably
lessen misery in civil commotions and  war, but  tlhe cluill  can
not do more.   It can not re-establish justice or rule. witlliout becoming state or government.   An earnest and strotig sense of
justice, strict fidelity to our constitutions, and a faitlhfiul, manly
execution of the laws-in one word, the restoration) of the stunken
autthority of the laws alone-can save our commonwealth.   We
still have, for this purp)ose, patriotism virtue, and lhonesty enough,
in the country.   It only wants to be l)roulght into activity.
I wish, besi(des, to make the poweitful so(ial ir)flien(ce of woman
available.  Wilien thlis iniflue(nce upon  so(.iety in gencil is egulating, moderating, pacifying, and enn(l)limng, whly  slhould womann
not exert a simil,ari il)fluence ul)on tlhe lul!lic social affairis?  Tllis
is impossible witllhout a clear unders.tandin, of the oljects, p)rinciples, and provisions, of our supreme law of the land. tile fedell
constitution.   To make it as plain asl housiliold woids is tlhe aim
of tlhese letters -    lwich, liowever, lhave been  written  witli due
regard to the constructions of the various del)nitments of' tle government, and the academi(cal and jutridi(ial commentaries.   I have
consulted the best. and even maintained tl(eir own  words in some
instances; so you may be assured that I give you tllhe cotistitution
an(l nothitig but thle coInstitution.  Its geneiail, thorouogh understandint, in our time. wlere it is so often misrel)resentel, and
even openly opposed bly men of talents and learilisg, is mo.t desiralile.  All public aftairs directly concein timilies, and l!en(e the
private  interests of families must  necessarily sutffer  fiom  bad
governing.
Look out what course the ship) of state is taking!  In the FE.ist,
men of parts are outraging, by their pulblic sl)eeclies. and behavior,
all sense of justice and p)ropriety, and opei-ly igive their suplort to
resistance against the officers of the United States, so tlhat the
troops have been ordered for tlheir pirote(tionI.  T''is is the l)eginning of the end of civil government.   In tlhe West  vigilan(te  ('ommittees act as cour'ts.,iealtliy men subsc)(ril)e ten thounanld (Iollars
for rebellion, and associations furnish pal-isian voters aid fighters
26 
INTRODUCTION.
for newvly-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 lhas produced; it is the true native glory of our country, unsurpassed by
any products of indigenous art and skill, however useful and excellent 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 Indians. The first were the ruling race, open to increase by immigration; the second were domesticated as slaves, a few of whom
were then manumitted, open to increase by birth and slave importation; the third were living in tribes, with chiefs, under the surveillance and jurisdiction of the first, open to increase by territorial acquisition. The convention had no power to alter this material 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 government than that established by the just-mentioned articles of confederation.
This body, therefore, had no power to make provisions for general 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 constitution, the product of this convention, has established bond labor
27 
THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT.
or slavery, or is maintaining it, mistake it entirely, as will become
mor-e 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 Jutdiciary.
ARTICLE  IV.-Jliscellaneo?s (relating to the validity of public acts and records, the equal ri,ghts of citizenship, the treatment
of fugitives from justice and service, admission of new states, administration of the territory, the guaranty of a republican form of
government).
ARTICLE V.- Of nAmendments.
ARTICLE  VI.-Miscellaneous  (relating  to public faith and
justice in regard to the war-debts, etc.; declairing the constitution
the supreme law of the land; to the general oath or affirmation
of all p1ublic officers, and members of Congress and legislatures;
the abolisliing, of the religious test).
ARTICLE VII.- Of the Ratzif(cation.
Of which more in my following letters.
LETTER II.
The Constitution.- Its Reading.- Preamble.- Short History of the Coun  t v. - Tile Revolution. - Nec(essity of a National Government. -  Greeks,
Roimanitis, G( rmans, Italians. - United States of Amrerica. -Family, Tribe.
-  Constitui ion of the People, and not of the States. -  OlIject of the Con stitution.- -National, nmunicipal, free, non-political or private Affairs. Justice. - St. Paul's First Letter to Timnotlhy. -  Commion  Defence. -
IiisuIbjcction. - Licentiousness.
IN the following letters I shall converse with you on the federal
constitution. section by section.  Please imagine that you are attending some lectures on this all-important sutbject.  I hope it will
iot be a tir-esome latbor fobr ou to make, in this manner. the closer
acquailitani.e of a written Awoik, which millions of free and happy
men are considering as a sacred legacy of George Washington
and his illustrious compatriots.
28 
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.
CONSTITUTION OF THE UINITED STATES.
"Preanble.- -We, 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, andsecure the blessings
of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution 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 country from 1643 to 1787, which may be termed the time of incubation of our present IUnion.
After the colonists had opened the path for European culture
through the primitive American forests, erected towns where before stood wi,gwams, subdued powerful Indian tribes, and had in
tho!-e struggles for life and independence acquired the skill of selfgovernment, so easily lost in luxury and affluence, they felt the
necessity of a government of their own, and a union of their colonial forces. MIany 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 themselves, 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 discover that it is this kind of public business which has caused the
great revolutions and struggles for fireedom. 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 riglit, the Germans revolted in 1848.  The Italians are,
it is said, at the eve of a revolution for the same purpose.  When
29 
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 management 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!
Tlhe colonies hlad, as early as 1778, adopted the appellation,
"UNITED  STATES OF A.IERICA."   Still the present constitution,
althloulgh fi'amed by a convention composed of de(legates chosen by
the legislatures of the states, was rattlfed and adopted by the
people: hence the words, "We  the peol-)le"- that is, the agqregate of families, forming society and nations. It makes, indeed,
but little difference whether this act of the firee, independent people is called a sovereign act or not. A nation, as such, is master
of its destiny.  There is no  so(.iety 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 validity of the (covenant, because on this fact, not the state governmenits, not congress, but o7nll the people, have to decide.  AIind
that no single state can leave the Union without tlhe permission
of the whole people or nation.
The preamble expresses the main obl)jects of the constitution.
First, A MIORE PERFECT UNION.   This was, as we have seen, most
desirable.  The new state gffovernnments cleaved  with the same
obstinacy to the national business as the Englislh government, from
the fi'ar that Congress might become  too powerful; fi'om which
cause sprung up a separate party, the republicans, op))osing the
federalists. This fear is unfounded, if we concede to Congress
but rational political business.   You  must remember  that  the
business managed by states or Cong'ess is called political or public business, which I shlall, in a separate letter, endeavor clearly
to explain. This Union has now been, after mi(ch trouble and a
bloody war, achieved, by adopting the present constitution, which
gives to Congress the national business, leaving to the states the
30 
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.
minlic?pal and to society, or thle people at large, the  free, nonpolitical affairs to managte.
The declared aim of the constitution is, further, to ESTABLISII
JUSTICE.   This is the supreme and ultimate object of all political
organizations.  St. Paul, as you  know  from  his first letter to
Timotliy, had already said, "The law [or state] is not made for
the righteous, bitfor the lawless," etc.   This means: if men would
alwNays act riglit, there would be, of course, no need of states, Congress  courts, sheriffs, troop)s jails, etc.  But  this not being the
case, we have to organize society, in order to establislh and realize
justice, on account oftlie lawless, and thus INSURF. DOMIESTIC TRANQUItLLITY and PROMNIOTE TIlE GENE IRAL WlELFARE. On thiis account,
Coi,gress has also to take care for the CO.IMON DEFENCE.  It is a
part and the consequence of the establislhment of justice, and its
execution. at home and with regarid to foreign nations.   If all this
is well done, the BLISSINGS  OF LIBEIRTY will most certainly be
secured  to ouri:elves and  our  posterity; while the reverse, as
injustice and lawlesness, ill sow thle seeds of discord, civil comniotions, general mniiserv, and despotism.  Ti4e blessings of liberty
consist chieflv in beitng  (tsutbjectt-thal.t is, in full possession of
the righits of self'govnrnent, so that man is not hindered in
reard(l to his industrial pulrsuits, culture, and management of his
pulblic affairiis.  No  orgililic law, tl-hat I am acquainted with, protects people in this regard better than our federal constitution.
For su(ch a rational liberty. llowever, very few men comparatively
are yet l)repare(l.  Tlie najoriity mlistake liberty for licentiousness.
Thle men whlo fiamed( this coistitution could lardly have introduced it by a lI)etter preamble.   It shows best wh-at a clear and
practical conception they had of their task.   They have erected a
monument of their wisdom, whlich, althoughi made for their time,
an(l the actual  wants of their society, comnposed of very heterogeneous elements (Americans, Indians, Eurol)eans, and Aticalrs),
is. notwithit,andilg, a  1)eItect pattrIn of an orIcrani(c law  for all
states and nations, as we  slhall often lhave o)pportunity to notice.
I promise you that you will admire it the more, the longer you
live.
T is brings me to the  end of my  secon(d letter, wli(l I close
withl the wishi tihat it may give you a shiarp  al)petite for the following.
31 
THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT.
LETTER III.
Congress. -Workls  in three Chaninels. -Legislature. -  Grants. -   epub li,s.- Monarchlies. -Government  preseivative, not plogr(,ssie. -  Scar  city of Solons. - Senate and House of Rel)reseotatives. -  Two-CI.ilr)
System.-Qualification of Memhbers of tile House of Rc>rcs(nt:tivcs. Votiing and electing, a Rig,iht of F]'anilitcs. -  ConireSs t)i(,lliil.-Qll: lif(.l tion, twent,-five Years of Agth. —Neroes, tlecir e()n1tiit. -  NlII1l)Er (,f
Reprlesentattives. -Census. -Lar(.e Le-isl;tive Bod(lies. -  VicatTici~,s fille (d
bh the State Exec(utive Actioin.- Sp)eaker. -  Im )peacliine)t. -Importailce
of the House of Represetitatives.- Ladies. -  Decorum.
WF  come now to the examination of the institution erected  by
the constitution.   It  works in tl)ree divisions, called the legislative,
executive, and judiciary, which constitute the polilical ijstitution
called  United  States.   A  similar ifhbric is that of a state; also
the subdivisions of states, viz., counties and  towns or  townshipis,
work by these three channels.   Pioperly speaking, the peoIple, 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 politi(al institittions, b,-eause, if
your mind is in the habit of doitig so, you will readily distinrigish
social rights and affails, fiom political, and be able to judge pith
precision on  encroachments of goveinmelits-  esp)ecially of  tlle
legislative branches on indivi(tual and soc,ial riglts., to  guard tand
protect which is the duty of the political institutions.
ARTICLE I.
Of the Legislature.
SECTION I.
"All legislative powers herein gi-rnted shall he vested in a  Congress  of
the United States,   hic  slhall consist of a seniate an,d Ihouse of rcpnrc(iitatives,."
Mlinid, now, tlat every word of the constitntiion  is  law.   Tliis
being the case, it was written by its authors with a care aid clear.
32 
THE LEGISLATURE.
ness unsurpassed since bv similar productions, which is one of the
causes ahy it has required but little or any amendiong during
eighty years.  Legislative powers  mean political business given
in tiust 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 clainmed by
the princes as a property or crown right, coming directly fi'om
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 lhouses is calculated to prevent inconsiderate and hasty
legislation, one of the greatest social calamities.
IThe federal government is not intended to be a progressive
machinery, or to run a race with society, philosophers, and visionaries, but nierely to conserve and protect the mail  ol)ject 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 embarrassments on the grand onward road of hiumai)ity.  To fiame for
this purpose laws is exceedin-gly difficult.  There  have been a
very few real Solons in the *woild.  There are in our large nation
not a hundred men fit for legislating.  Two legislative chambers
are con.idered sufficient to avoid errors in law-making-nothing
to sav here of the veto-power of the president.   We lhave seen
that the senate in the Congress of 1856, clhe(ked the passage of
a clause in the army appropriation bill, repeatedly al,piove(d by
the nmajority of the house, wlhich 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 op)inion tlhat a constitution is something like a vane, and open to all kinds
of' iiiterpretation,to suit people, just like the Bible; but you will not
hetsitate to consider this a mistake.  The Bible is in its.elf no law, b)ut
a mere hook, written and suitable for all moral purposes of lifer, 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*
33 
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
riglht.
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 influence 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
septeiinial. 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 sevefi 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, requires 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
34 
REIPP ESEN'TATION.
several states whi(h mav he iclule(ld within  this Union, according to their
resl)e(tive numt)crs,  wli'h  sill be  d(Iteirmined  )by  ad(ding to  the whole
numl)er of fee piersons, inceluding) those 1)o00n( tO service for a term of years,
and  ex(cIlnding   In)diais not taxel(, tllr(e fift'tls of all other persons.'lhe
actuatl enumer]ationt slill he m(ade withini three veatrs atter tlhe first nmeeting
of' the Cong,ess of the UIiiited States, and wilhin every subscequent term of
ten veas, in sucth a ma.nner  as tiey shall bv law direct.'1'1lTe nnumber of
represent.atives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but each state
shill 1have at I(ast one reprseiitative'  and until sii(hIi enumneration shlall be
ma.tde, tlhe state of New Hnampshire slall b)e entitl:d to (choose tlhr-ee; Massacliusetts, ei,,lit  Rllo(le Islaud and  Provi(lenc(e 1'lantatioiis, one; Conntecticut, five; N(ew  York, six   New  Jersev, four; Pens,,ylvania,  eight; I)elaware, one; Maryland, six; Virginia, ten; NorIth Carolina, five, and Georgia,
three."
The representation and taxation ought to be regulated according
to the inhabitants of thle severIal states, and not according to the
population of the United States.  Tlhose bound to service for a
number of years, as sailors, etc., oulit to be counted.  Indians
not taxed arie excluded because they live in triibes, a kind of state.
The three fitlis of all other persons are those bound to service for
lite, or slaves, forming a distinct race not included within the regular political organization, like the before-mentioned Indian tribes.
The  words "by  adding three fifths of all other persons," are
wrongly understood  by  some  commentators and the  abolition
party.   Tlheir proper meaning, adopted by Congress, is that five
sl.ves count as but three persons, while five free negroes in free
states c(ount as muclh, viz., five persons.  Those free negroes do not
vote tlhemselves, but in making  up  the census  they count like
white persons, while in a slave state five negroes pass only as
tlhree 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 firee 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 state1,000,000 white and free colored persons,
100,000 slaves counting only
60,000 after deducting twio fifths, leaving
940,000 whole number of free persons.
35
iro-I 
THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT.
Thus a slave state may lose lIv this operation  (ine (or more
representatives in Cotngress.  It followsa tt tllis; (.le.use (imi iiii-lies
in the slave states the "wholle number" at thie rate of two fifths
in regard to the slave pol ulation, compared w itl the friee negroes
and whites elsewhere.   The federal conistitutiot-i is as liberal as
possible, and is only illiberally interpreted to please or suit piarties.
Whlen 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 muni(ip)al
affairs, has no interest to ascertain, fobr its own use, more than the
number of the inhabitants in order to control and regulate their
reprtesentation 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 muticipal governments to make
census for statistical purposes of this kind.  It is sul)p)osed that a
statistical state census, by the agency of the wNell-inftormed town
officials,, is more reliable than that made in the vast territory of
the United States by United States marshals, al poittted 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 firom
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 anrid that of the
constitution is interesting in regard to the progress of the population of the several states.
The electoral votes of the United States are at present as
follows:
Delaware...................... 3
Mairvland...................... 8
Virgilia....................... -15
North Cirolinae.................10
South Carolina.................    8
Georgia....................... 10
36
Maine......................... 8
. New Hampshire.................5
Vermont...................... 5
Massachusetts................... 13
Rhode Island.................. 4
Connecticat................... 6 
IMPEACH3IENT.
New York.....................35
New J,,-sev...................                                           7
I'e,, II svl v.'tIiit................
O'l:o.........................23
I.,diana.......... 13........1
Ilois........................ 1
Miflisgi.                       6Akua..........................4
51 ielliga...................... 6
Iow.t.........................    4
W ic(ci 1.....................  5
Calitorn-ia.....................  4
Thle wlole number is 296; 176 in the free states, and  120 in
thle -lave states.  It shows a great preponderance of some states.
Larige legislative bodies are useless for their proper  pu)rpose.
Tiie I)rol)er leg,,islative business of Congress has not increased with
thle liopulation, because it is national, not local.  The  gralts of
thle constitution remain to-day what thiy wele eighty years ago.
The same wisdom whichl was required  then to make the laws  for
tlhe carlying out of the constitution is sufficient at present tfor tlhe
same purpose.   The moie  state governments the less territorial
Congressional business.   It is different with the finance and  the
executive.   U[)on the administration of the laws the increase of
population has' some influence also in the Union.   Tlhat our senate
is a nmore respectable body thian thle house is owilig to its smallcr
nminl)er.   We have few fit men to fill our overiumerous legislative
bodlies.  The house of representatives would aiiswer bettelr to its
purtpose 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 executive aithliority thereof shall issuowrits of election to fill tp such vacancies."
Here also the constitution leaves the care of the elective business to the state governments; wNho, acting not in an understanding withi eachi othl-er, differ in regard to the mode of filling va(-ancies.  In  states where  an absolute majority is required for' an
election often much delay is caused.
"5. T'he 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 officers, the president included, being responsible or accountable, there
must be a court and an impeacher or accuser. In choosing the
87
Alal).ima...................... 9
llissisil)i,i..................... 7
l,oui,-;i,iii,t...................... 6
K uiitti(-Iiy...................... 12
'I erilie.,sce...................... 12
.Alisout-i....................... 9
...................... 4
Floi-i(la........................ 3
Texas........................ 4 
THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT.
spealker tile absolute majority rule has been adopted, that is, the
candiidate must get the absolute or real and not merely the relative
manjority.-This rule presents no diffic(ulty if there are but two
candidates.  But in the reverse case the election may rernaiii for
weeks and months doubtful, as we  have witnessed several times.
There should be a remedy for such delay which is merely oAwing to
party.  The power of imp)eachment, though rarely effectively used
is yet an important cheek upon the judicial and executive ofictl'ers.
These few provisions form the basis of the organizatiotl 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 legislative assembly, whose character and authority is entirely its own
wolk. 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 influencc of the conduct of their members upon the morals of tile people and upon the
authoritv 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 canll not
repress the remark that the influence of the ladies upon these assemblies in regaid to decorum, may be more effietive tlhan  the
most stringelt laws., p)rovided they are well iiiformed of the actual
duties of the legislators.
38 
THE SENATE.
LETTER IV.
Senate. - Organization. - Each Senator has one Vote. - No Riight of the
State to instruct them. - Ele(tion by the States. - One third of the Scn ators to be chosen evervy second Year. - Temporary Appointmeiits.- Age
of thirty Years. - Vice President, President of the Senate. - Ilpeach ment. - Election. - Annual Sessions of Congress, and the Parliament in
Great Britain.-Diffcrence 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 themsnelves to our mind as a grave and
awe-inspiring assemblage of Solonis. Let us see what the constitution 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 senator 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 lborm a house of loids, this mode of electing a second  chlamber
of the national legislature, was adopted as the best.  It is even
against the tenor of this proviso that state governments may instruct 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 noniie upon
the administration of the states.
"2. Immediately after they shall be assembled, in consequence of the first
39 
THE NATIONAL GOVERNMIENT.
election, they shall be divided as equally as may be, into three classes.  The
seats of thc setiators of the first class, shall be v*acatecd at thle exlpiration of
the second year, of the second class at the exl)irationl of the fourtll yeir, and
of the third class at the expiration of tile sixth year, so that one thirid nlay
be clioseti every second year, and if vacancies lihaippen by resignation or otherwise during the recess of the legislature of anly state, the executive  tlhere(of
may make temporary appoilntments until the next meeting of tiie legislature,
wlic(h slill then fill such vacancies."
"3. No  person shiall be a senator who shall not have attained to the age
of tllirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United States, and wilo
shall not, whlen elected, be an inihabitant of that state for which he shiall be
chose n."
"4. The vice-president of the United States shiall be president of the senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equall, divided."
All  tlhese are pl)lain provisions.    Tlhe vi(e-piresident  has a cast
ing vote, as it is called; lie may  I)ecome  president in case of vacancv.   Tlhis is the re ason whiy lheis elected by the peol)le.
"5. The senate shall choose their other officers, anud also a plresi(lent protempore, in the al1senice of the vi(e-president, or when hlie shlall exe(rcise tilhe
office of president of the Uiiitedl Staites."
Tlis also is plain, and  it remains a creit desideratum tlhat  the
speaker of the hlouse of representatives also sloutild not be entirely
dependeit upon the al)bsolute  majority vote.   The  house  has the
rig,lt to make the neeezsary rules in this  regard.
"6. Thle senate shlaill have the sole power to try all impeachment.s, when
sittiig for that purpose, they sliill he on oathl or.affirmnation.  Wlien tile presideit of tile Uiiited Stites is tritid tile chlit f justice shill preside; atld no p(rson shall be conivicted without the concurrence of two thirds of the inmetilbers
pres.nt."
Tlhe president of the supreme court takes the place of the vicepresidlent, on account of hlis rig,lit to succeed the president in case
of vltcancy.
"7. Juidgmenit in cases of impeachment shall rnot extend  fuirther  tihan remov;tl fiom office, and disquilifi(altioni to hold and etljoyv atly offi(e of hItnor,
trust, or profit, tinder the Utited States, but the plrty (onvit.ted(l slt:ll lieverthlieless be litbl- cid sulject to iiidictrient, trial, judgilent, and  ioll sli,elit,
accorditig to law."
Tlis all is plain.
SECTION IV.
"1. The times, places, and manner of holding elections for sernators and
representatives shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thliere6f;
but the Congress may, at any time, by law, make or alter such regulations,
except as to the places of choosing senators."
40 
TIME OF MEETING.
Tllis claise emrpowers  Congress  to control the state governmeits. to  )I'event factitious legislation, interfering, with the activity,
and even existence of Congress.
"2.'Ihe Congress slall assenlble at least once in every year, and such
meetirf slyill l)c on the first Moiiday in Deceniber, unless they shall, by law,
apl)oinlt a different dav."
This (lause requires no explanation.
Thle firamers of the Constitution  have, in a  certain measure,
imitated tlhe En,lishl  parliament, which is also dividled into two
liouses, one of tlhe commons, the other of the peers-those are
create(l Ily privilege, thle commoners are elected.   Thle great  diffeience I)etween this parliament and our Congress is not in names,
but in busin,ss.   Tlhe  English parliament is the national  and
mu,ii(ilmal legislature, ullitilig, within  itself that business  wlich
I)rioily bielonged to thle kingdotiis (and parliaments) of England,
Scotlnd,  Irleland, and Wales; our Congress is only the national
legisl.ature,  equally divided  between  thie  senate  and  house  of
rel~t,seiitatives.'The senate. liowever, serves also as an  exe(utive cuiii(il of tlhe president, fbr like pt)urposes a separate lbody
undei(   the name of' privy counti(il, exists in Great Britain.  Tle
fewer  eml)ebrs otf' tle senate htave thlerefore more business to perfoi'ai, tlaaii the laiirgr iuinber of' meml)ers of tlhe house.  Hatving
nowxI ntv-i liearil  a complaint that there are  too few senators for
tliei  busiless, it tollows tlhatt tlhe nuinler of the members of tile
lhouse iiiiy lI)e )rofitalliy curtailed for the better despatchl of tile
legi-laitive ibusiisc.    fThe house b-egan workiiig with sixty memhi is. (a grieat a(1 awt.ige for  the  Uliioi.   Oui  Cotngress does not,
a.  tlie 1E'ii.i!)irlient, treliresent local  intelests, pi-ivileges,
ciasXts-, cl~tsses, ( e4.' y  reow n-i i,lt., etc., but has oily to mind that
busiiiess whlicll is clearly d(efiie(l a(nd expressly granted to it t)by
the Constitution; the restponsibility of both  hlouses is alike; they
control and  clheck  each otlher, to avoid errors  iri law-making.
TiLus tlhere is some likeness in the external form of our Con,gress
witih that of tile B  itish lparliament, but  thleir proper lb)usilness,
legilitive d(uties, and lresponsib)ility, differ widely.  This difference
sh,t,lll caIlt.o0  uIs nlot to a(dol)t or imitate English laws.
Ail tlie-e lirovisoes are just aud  i,lain, an(l necessary for the
activity au,la statiality of Cong,ress.   We  sihall soon come  to more
initereatili,g,ubjects.
41 
THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT.
LETTER V.
Election RPeturns.- Quiorum.- Order of Sessions. -Riiles of PrIoceeding(s.
- I)ecorum. - Expelling of Dison-leilv Meinhers. -Journal. - Yeas and
Nuas. - Faetitious  Legisl.tion should be  Resented. -Adjoiriment.  Comnpensation. - Pirivileg,e(l  from  Arrest. - No   Qiestionling  for  rany
SI)eech.-Sl)eec'hes for Party  PurI'iposes. — Metnhers  of Conress  en cluded firom Offices. - Exahlted Mission of Congr,ess.- Illfluelice of L(adies.
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 qualifiea.
tions of its own members, and a majority of each shall constitute a quorium
to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn fiom day to day, andi ma.iy
be authorized to compel the attendance of absent members in such manner
and utinder 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 doiig
business, and sufficiently proves  the independence of our natioinal
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 gi'anted
to Congress should be of the most courteous, dignified, and temperate kind.   The houses, of course, have also the ri,ght to resen.t contempts, the same as the courts.  They have even extn(led their
power to punish disorderly behavior for offences not committed as
senators or representatives, which were considered entirely inconsistent with the senatorial dignity and trust.  There seems to be
42 
COMPENSATION.
then no lack of laws to prevent, or punish such disgraceful scenes,
which we witness so often in Cong,ress and out of it, wherein
members of Congress are the actors. But laws make no gentlemen, 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, require 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 mindful 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 tlhose 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 existence 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 ouglht to be factitious
members of legislatures responsible with their persons and property for their participation in unconstitutional and injurious legislation not guided by justice.   Hence the necessity of recording the
yeas and nays.
"4. Neither house, during the session of Congress shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any othier 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 firom 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 latte
43 
THE NATIONAL GOVERNMIENT.
to an annual salary of $3000 per member.   It will make the
sessions shorter and the despatch of business slower.   Thle  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 s)eechl, 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 eteirnally
ill 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.   Suiih
harangues and oratorical feats may be in place in Great Britain,
where society is subject, all popular righlts must be conquered, and
tihe crown has been, by the law of iiiheritance, in the possession of
an immense exec(utive power and patronage since timrie immemorial.
But with all such thlings, no one in Congress has anytlhing to do.
There all is plain, settled, prescribed business.   Nol)o(ly can entertain aiiny serious doubts about it; and if this should be  [he case,
the United States supreme court is autlhorized to settle the question.   For what  Iurpose aie then with us bitter and  angry harangues?  Tile constitutio:, gives no cause for them, our best public
men hlave never in(lulged in them.  As outr form of government
ditfers from the forms of' European goverInments, so should our
manner of managing public affairs differ from thleirs.  Ours should
be plain, business-like, and fiee of rhetoric bombast, passionate and
violent langnage. It will be the case if the public, anrid especially
the ladies, condemn this style.
"2. No senator or representative shall, during the time for which he was
elected, be appointed to antv civil office under the  utlihoritv of the United
States, which sh.tll have been creait(d, or the emoluments vwhereof shall have
been ini(rea.sed duriii  such tinme; atid no person holdin,, any offi(e ut(der the
Uiiited States, shall be a memiber of either house during, his continuance in
office "
44 
BILLS.
The second part of this proviso is peculiarly American, for in
all Eui'opea,i constitutional states the state officers, ministers of the
crown included, are elective or official members of the parliamenets.
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 Congress will become more and more true to its exalted mission, delineated 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 IRegaid to Factitious Legislation.  Repassing Bills.- Punishment of Unconstitutional Legislation.- Two  third Vote. -Pi Parties. - How to get an Office.-Electors.-Political
Brokers. -  Strict Morality in obtaining Offices nowhere. - How they are
bestowed in Monarchies and Repubtlics. - Faction, its Danger. -  Ab)oli  tionists a Faction.-Custom in England that  lintisters resign when de  feated in Parliament, to be imitated in the United States.
TItE 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 representas
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 ol)jections, to that house in which it shall have originated, who sl),dl1
enter the objections at large on their journal, anrid proceed to reconsider it.
If, aifter such reconsideration, two thirds of that house shall agree to pass the
bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the otle]r'  loIse, )by
which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds o' that
45 
THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT.
house, it shall become a law. But in anll such cases the votes of both houses
shall be determined b)y yeas and nays; and the names of the persons voting
for and against the bill shall be entered on the journal of each house respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the president 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 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 wholesome, that it has found a place in almost all our state constitutions,
even of the latest date.   There is no doubt that considerate presidents and governors may, by means of this veto-power, best prevent inconsiderate legislation.  It is also required for the protection 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 influences (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 created 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 conserve 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
46 
UNCONSTITUTIONAL LAWS.
whose proper duty and avocation it is to occupy themselves with
such sul.iects.  Bad laws create nmore evil than can be remedied
)by their repeal.   Consideriate and just laws aie veto and repeal
proof.
None of our constitutions or statute-books contains a proviso on
the puni.siment of those who propose or approve of unconstitutional laws. A due sense for justice makes one desirable to check
such legislation, whichl is, if not criminal, higlly disgraceful under
written constitutions.   We can not be caretfiul enough in selecting
the members of Congress and in legislating to save the reputation of our system of governing.  There is in thie English parliamentary transactions between the ministrv and the houses a custom, that the first resign when they are defeated by a vote on the
bills brouglit in by them.   This can not happen  in Congress, becaune government does not propose hills.   This English custom is
bas.ed upon the assumption, that the king can not err and is therefore not responsible, also not, when  proposing a bill by  his responsib)le 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 declared 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 executive, whose main duty is to see, that the constitution is preserved
and togethler with the laws faithfully executed.
' 3. Eneryv order, resolution, or vote, to which the concurrence of the senate
and house of representatives may be necessary (except on a question of adjournment), shall be presented to the president of the United States; and before the same shall take effect, shall be alpproved by him or being disapproved
bv hin, shall be repassed by two thirds of the senate and the house of represenitatives, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in the case
of a hill."
This, as you will see, is a mere extension of the preceding
clause.   Rules and resolves concerning the internal affairs of each
house come not within the scope of this provision.
Let us now take a short review of the sections we have perused.
They contitain the rules for the organization and  working of the
Congress. The constitution says not a word of the parties or the
47 
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 peopl)e or
electors, and nobody else, shall be the source firom %whichl offic(ials
spring up.  But this is not the case in reality.  It is obvious, that
all our elections are managed by parties, which, fi'om usage, are
the agents of the people and candidates in all election affaiirs.
We may comrpare them to the brokers who are stepping in between sellers and buyers to realize a bargain.   Those parties. or
political brokers, leave for the people nothing to do at the ballotbox, which is called the palladium of our liberty, but to approve
their party-candidates, or, to throw their votes away, as the pIirase
is, because, as matters are, a no-party candidate will never command 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 influence 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 liundred artifices of popularity, party, even faction, open the road to
power. Bribery with its golden key unlocks many doors to offices everywhere.  Talent and merit, if' not patronised by royal
or public favor or party, remains behind. Th)e piess, anothlier
palladium of our liberty, is also the willing helpmate of partisanls or
the servile instrument of princely courts.   Of course, in d'emociacies many noble principles are set forth in platforms to strengtlhen
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 constitution, and, consequently, thus far, Congress depends entirely
upon a power, that of party, which is irresponsible, altliogli it
assumes the management of the most important right of a firee people, that of voting.  I am aware that party is a part of the pe(ople, 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 directly dangerous to the stability of the political fabric and constitution, while parties, which hlave their origin merely in a difference
of opinion about the existing laws, are harmless.  Genuinie piarIty
48 
PARTIES.
never plots, but faction does; party shuns violence, but faction
s(elks axed ciaves it.  The abolitionists form a faction and not a
pai'ty, because they act with violence against the laws and constitution, burn this document, ignore the Union and the constitutional compromises upon which it rest, oppose with arms in hand
the officer's of the government, refuse constitutional appropriations
on p)ar:y grounds, and may finally destroy the political structure,
if not chiecked 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
o!ten abuse their offices for selfish purposes; but we have everything to fear from factions, which spring up in our midst, and
from unprincipled party influences in our legislatures.  The officcil's chlange their places, but leaders of parties and factions do not;
then take a strong hold upon the mind and passions of man, and,
it' 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 childi eii. the history of the French Revolutions.  The worst scenes
of the first Revolution were enacted under the auspices of infuriated vilagos.  If they had taken the part of peace, order, and
propriety, the lives of thousands, waotonly butchered, would have
been saved.   We all admit that the influence of women upon the
character of American  society is all-powerful and most beneficial.  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
t,o. It is in want of a more universal influence of woman upon
soc.iety, that the management of' our public affairs seems to be so
uii(lignified and  tasteless.   Party  helps  to offices and  powler.
Party," so said Swift, "is the madness of the many for the bene       fit       of the few." Th ere is no greater slavery, no more corrupting
condition,  than the b      lind devotedness to party.   If I vote for a
party candidate, I do it because I believe him to be the fittest man
f     o     r      the place; b ut, th is ( done, I  watch his course with the indepen
3
49 
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 likewise 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 citizen may be admitted to vote in five, or ten, or twenty years -
there may exist a great variety of opinions, for such objects depend upon expediency, circumstances, and general principles of
justice, but not upon the constitution itself.  But whether  Congress 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, Congress 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 foundation upon which our social happiness and national welfare rests.
50 
POWERS OF CONGRESS.
LETTER VII.
Congressional Business or Powers. -Political Institutions.- United States,
States, Counties, Towns, Cities, Villages. -Conflicts between thiem. -
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 business 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 constitution have made this list with great care and a due appreciation 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 character, especially while it is the office of the judiciary to decide on
such conflicts.
The argumentation depends, then, upon the reading and interpretation of the constitutions. The federal constitution is so plainly
worded, and its purpose (the organization of the national political
51 
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 constitutional 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 government, 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 constitution. 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 consumption of certain commodities, and chiefly from imported articles of luxury, fashion, etc.
Direct revenues are based upon certain estimates, corresponding with the wants of the government; indirect revenues are coll(,cted by tariffs, and bring either more or less than the governmnent requires, aecording 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. MIonarchs 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
52 
CONTRACTING DEBTS.
customs, an arrangement which excludes the idea of absolute freedom of commerce. Thus, we are so little accustomed to pay a
tax for Congress, that a taxation on this account would be unpopular, 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 federal government is at liberty to act according to time and circumstances, which, together with public opinion, have a great influence upon the finances of nations. Of course, this part of the
public business is the cause of a treasury department with a seeretary 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 commerce is a branch. It is impossible to determine, with mathematical 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 circumstanees,
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.
53 
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 borrowing 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 common defence.
"3. To regulate commerce      a AVith foreign nations.
b And among the several states.
c And with the Indian tribes."
Three distinct objects are here committed to the care of Congress, which are as such pointed out in print. Those few lines
have given rise to frequent debates, often of a very irritating character 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 guasi 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 direction, 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 harbors, 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
54 
COMMERCE.
words which follow. In such an abstract manner there is no
government on earth wise and powerful enough to regulate commerce. 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 commerce between the confederated states, is the main source of our
intcrnal commercial liberty, one of the greatest boons of our confederation, 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
hive power to tax New York city, aid the state of New  York
New Orleans?  This most precious liberty of commerce, for which
fatnatics 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
foreigii governments can meddle with our Indian tribes. Without 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 composed of different races, and these are divided into different independent 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. Belt 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
55 
THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT.
comfort, persons and nations must be on their guard against trespassers 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 firom 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  Buchanaii'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 sentence concerning bankruptcies would never have found a place in
the constitution, if Congress were indeed the regulator of commerce, because as such this body could make as many laws concerning, bankruptcies, banks, drafts, commercial partnerships, protests, exchange, discount, as it pleased, incidentally to the foregoing
clause.  Aliens must be Americanized.   The  colonies were a
creation of immigration; that immigrationi from Europe would
fill the vast regions of the United States, was foreseen by the sagacious framners of the constitution. To give uniformity to this
national business, Congress was empowered to legislate upon it.
56 
BANKRUPTCY LAWS.
Hence, the naturalization laws, by which, of course, were excluded 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 legislatures 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 respect, 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 beginning 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 political 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 general law on the subject of bankruptcy, sprung up from a true,
honest, and statesmanlike appreciation of the confederation. To
s u c h              an appreciation, however, Congress never has come, never
h     a     s       aspired. This assemblage is far from answering to its true
constitutional purpose. Very few of its members take the constitution for their rule of action. Thus Congress has tried repeat                                3*
57 
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 desirable. In South Carolina, executors of estates have a right to help
themselves if they have claims against them before all other creditors; they can pay any creditor they please, according to the
digyity 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 congressional law should protect him from such.
The opinion is at present adopted that this grant is not an exclusive one, and that thus the state legislatures may enact bankrupt 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 uniformn bankruptcy law, therefore, the state legislatures were obliged to supply the deficiency temporarily. As
soon as Congress would enact one, then all state laws in this regard would cease to be valid.
You see how much work is still left for us by this noble constitution. 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 convention sitting in Germany to make one. No doubt that our constitution 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
58 
COINING AND COUNTERFEITING.
like insubordination or revolution. A business intrusted wisely
by the people to Congress, can not, by their agenits, be intrusted to
the states without causing confusion and anarchy.
LETTER X.
Coining Mlonev. - 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. Congress 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 valuable 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. Consequently, Congress has erected mints, assay offices, etc.
Justice requires uniform laws for standard weights and measures, and even international arrangements for a mundane uniformity in such things.
That Congress has not succeeded until lately to make the national legal decimal coinage exclusive, proves that upon the circulation 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
circumrnvene 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."
59 
THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT.
This grant is a sequel to the preceding. The crime of counterfeiting is declared a felony, punishable by imprisonmenit, fine, etc.
"7. To establish post-offices and post-roads."
This proviso has given cause to many disputes. The meaning
of the constitution obviously is to give Congress the right to establish 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 inherited 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 contents 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 consolidated.  Congress saw fit also to forbid private competition,
which stamps the business as a monopoly. Upon such nonpolitical 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 injustice 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 transportation of the mail; and has given cause to party disputes, and vetoed
60 
PATENTS.
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
Anti American.- Political Patronage of Arts and Sciences in Europe. -
Goethe. - Fourierism.
WzF come now to fresh fields and pastures, the sciences and
arts, and shall immediately see what the noble framers 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 respective writings and discoveries."
Is this all? you will perhaps ask. Could they not say a word
or two of national education, national universities, national agricultural 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 governmeits which leave those rights but little protected.
The consequence of this clause are the patent-office and copyright laws. The wisdom of controlling this business in Congress
is obvious. Authors, artists, and inventors divulge their works,
61 
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, artistic, and mechanical public to
the confederation. This policy benefits directly and indirectly the
agriicultural 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, ol
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 occupation, 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 instruction does not make better men.  I wish not to be taxed for the
scllooling of a Robespierre, or to raise a fund for spe('ulators.
The Englilshman Smithson did not understand our constitution;
otherwise hle would not have bestowed upon  Congress a lega(y
for the diffusion of knowledge; because Congress has nothing to
do with such business.   He, of course, a I~iiropean, was  not
aware that we commit the care of that to writers, editors, publishers, preachers, lecturers, speakers, liberal wealthy men, amateurs of arts and sciences, associations, or, if you please, to every
62 
COPYRIGHTS.
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 persecuted. 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."
.Iy 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 governments 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 patentoffice, etc., are simply unconstitutional and exceedingly unamerican. 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
shlould become a book-publishing concern, or look out for teaching
langunges, 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
63 
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 greatness, and was rewarded by privileges, caste, primogeniture, nobility, crowns," etc. But the influence of mind must not he 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 exotics 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, Fourierism (by-the-by a very old ism), and all similar schemes.
We have to guard her like a jewel against the rough hands of
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
Lawv curiositv.- 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 justice requires a judicious distribution of the judicial business among
64 
INFERIOR TRIBUNALS, PIRACY, AND WAR.
graduated courts of law, for which purpose certain judicial districts aire set up, to limit the juri.,diction 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 an(l
the citizens of the Union upon the oceans and high seas, just as
other governments exercise the same right, in regard to the vessels 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  committed 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, lighthouses, fortifications, quarantines, harbor-line regulations, business belonging constitutionally to Congress.  As  our Congress, in the
s})itit of the constitution, has always been careful not to interfere
wiitli tile jurisdiction anid 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 common law courts and the admiralty hold their concurrent and alterIate jurisdiction where  the tide ebbs and flows; one upon  the
water when it is full sea, the other (common law) upon the lanmd
when it is ebb.  He who will commit a felony, and prefer common
lawn 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 goverments of different nations as rules, have received this name.
"11. To de(clare 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
goveriment, 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
65 
THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT.
prevail in the national councils. The fi'iends of peace have proposed 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 selfd('fence.  We can never have a war of conquest as long as we
ob(ey our constitution. By means of letters of marque, merchantvessels are transmitted into men-of'-war, to increase our naval fborc(e.
Of' course, all war business is, or otughlt to be, a part of the realization of' justice on a larg,e 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 sub)ject to be captured or plundered by privateers or
meii-of'-war.  Our government hlasinsisted upon it that it shall be
free.   But the English government has, up to this time, not cons,etited 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 plundering 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.
66
.0 
ARMIES.
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. - Crimcan War. - Serf Sol diers. - Discipline. - Training of the Militia. - Equal 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 proviso 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. Congress 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 military academy at West Point has been established. Railroads,
telegraphs, steam navigation, in one word, progressive Time may,
however, produce firequent 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
67 
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-mentioned 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 academy 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 thile 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 Congress. 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 mothers 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
68 
MILITIA.
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 defence. 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 regard 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 governments. Presumptively, as much wisdom, patriotism, and experience 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 business in the hands of Congress, promoted by legal order or justice,
is the general welfare and prompt concentrated action when circumstances 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.
69 
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 governed 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 government 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 undue preponderance. Even in monarchical Germany, the diet, as
is called the present show of a national Congress, meets in an independent 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 constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or office thereof."
By this provision, Congress has the power to put in motion the
70 
SPECIAL LAWS.
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 noiy examined the positive
part of the constitution, specifying the business which shall be
done by Congress, through the indicated channels. It is imperative 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 investigate 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 lProprietors.- Rights of Self-government. - National Bank. -
Precedents.-  Shoemaking in Time of War.-  Expediency.  - National
13Bnks in England, France, Russia, Austria, Prussia. -Public I)ebts. -
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 Congress 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.
71 
THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT.
There was a time when the federal government under Washington thought it necessary to establish a national bank for the regulation 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 busilness,
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, authorized 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, because, 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 shoemaking for the soldiers too, if there is no other way to get this necessary clothing?  If such a case should be the cause of party disputes, and the supreme court decide that the shoemaking by the
government be constitutional, would common-set)se men set up
this decision as a precedent for all time to come, according to
which Congress can carry onl shoemaking for ever at pleasure?
Government itself is a mere expedient, and oft-times an exceedingly 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 circumstances make a national bank necessary in England, France,
72 
INTERPRETATION.
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 ma,ter-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
sul)-treasuries.  But the origin of thIis extensive political machinery is in a few lines of the eighth section, whose simplicity and
precision makes the constitution easily applicable to time and circumstances.
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 nmay, 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 manag,ed.  lii this regard, Public affairs do not differ from private affairs.  Wa-shiington was as right in his time, when approving a
national bank, as Jackson was later, Awhen disapproving it. To
make party capital out of such incidents is wrong.
We  Iare in need of a good temper in our political affairs.
Where shall we get it when even the pulpit is turned into a party
liot-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
73 
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.
LET 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 constitution 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 Africans, Congress has cut the Gordian knot, and parted at once with
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 belongs to the states to legislate on this subject.   For this very reason 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
74 
MIGRATION.
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 assuming, 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 instances. 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 influence 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 constitution or not.
Such atrocities are past. They are gone with the feudal barons
75
0 
THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT.
and knights. But in their places have sprung up political financiers, 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 provisoes 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 neutralize 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 revenue 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 appropriations made by law; and a regular statement and amount of the receipts 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
76 
NOBILITY.
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 consent 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-European. 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 monarchical 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 regard, if our public affairs were managed with more Washingtonian 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.
77 
THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT.
LkETTER 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 business not belonging to their sphere. You will readily appreciate
the propriety of it.
SECTION I.
"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 contracts, 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 prohibition of state bills of credit, or state paper-money, redeemable at
a future day by the states, is necessary to prevent the embarrassment 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
78 
NEGATIVE PROVISOES.
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 statistics of clearinghouses and bankers, mercantile business amounting 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 conduct.   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."
79 
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 obediently the public authorities, if they are executing the laws faithfully and honestly. It is plain that there can be only one sort of
imposts or customs; otherwise thl)e same article might be taxed by
each state, and its whole value soon absorbed by taxation. Something 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 tonnage, 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 overwhelming force to keep the state governments with their troops at bay.
When, in 1848, the German national Congress at Fraikfort had
debated and resolved awhile witlhout an executive force at their
disposal, the state governments, tired of their debates. marsha.lled
their armies, dissolved this Congress, and made an end of German
national unity. A similar destiny awaited the ancient Greek confederations.   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 hlave 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 governments of Great Britain and France can not be more distinctly
80 
NEGATIVE PROVISOES.
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 improper, unconstitutional, and entirely gratuitous, betraying a meddlesome 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
Washing,tons; 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 flatter; you, my daughters, know me too well in this
respect. AIake, then, a good use of your real woman's rights:
there are bogus woman's rights abroad.
4*
81 
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 concerning 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 discussed 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 singleness on earth, when this constitution was set up. Our next
door neighbors have not learned from this constitution, otherwise Santa Anna would not have assumed the title of highness.
82 
THE PRESIDENT.
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 federal government, his due respect. I know that you, my daughters, 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 villany and mob violence.
According to the wording of this clause, the president shall
hold his office during the term of four years only. Washington, 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 reelected to the end of his life.
The Swiss, probably to avoid the excitement which accompanies our presidential elections, have, in their new constitution
of 1848, (a good imitation of ours,) made the heads of the departments elective, who then chose one of their number as president. 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.
83 
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 voted for as president, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as vice-president, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons 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 immediately, 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 vicepresident, if such a number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed, 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 purpose shall consist of two thirds of the whole number of senators, and a majority 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."
84 
PRESIDENTIAL QUALIFICATIONS.
This is all plain. Still the action of the electors is forestalled 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
*h 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 ambition 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 instrument in the hands of designing men. This, according to the
results of the elections, people seem to appreciate well.
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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 daulghters, 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 firom a Mrs.
Phelps, MIrs. Strickland, MIrs. WVillard, 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 compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the period for
86 
PRESIDENTIAL OATH.
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 functionary, 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 following 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 organic 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 numerous 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.
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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. -Trcaty with France. -French and English  Alli anee. - 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 mnilitia of the several states when called into
the actual service of the United States; he may require the opinion, in writinm,, 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 commnent. 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-inchief 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
88 
PRESIDENTIAL DUTIES.
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 interests, rights, and honor, with all disposable means at hand, without 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 twvo-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 mninisters and consuls, judges of the
supreme court, and all other officers of the United States whose appointmcnts 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 constitution designates the senate as the adviser of the president, in certain instances. Our history shows what importance has been
given to the heads of departments, as for example, under General
Wasllington's presidency on the National bank question.   Jefferson, then secretary of state, was against su(ch a bank, Hamilton,
secretalry 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 or 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 president may delegate his authority, namely, in time of war.
The pardoning power can properly be exercised only by the
exe(tutive, 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 established justice and the judiciary. This pardoning power is a
89 
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 governments. 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 vexatious 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 personal 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 struggle 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, anticipates business, events, and changes, over which we must have free
control at all times, and is, therefore, eminently entangling and
90 
APPOINTMENTS.
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 another 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?
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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, fromn time to time, give to the Congress information of the
state of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as
hlie 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 amb-assa(lors 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 Jefferson. It affords a timely opportunity to lay down a certain
plan for legislative action, based upon necessity, business experience, and principles, necessary for large legislative bodies, whose
members, too often, bring but vague notions about the constitutional 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 abilities 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 ambassadors entirely, as, indeed, superfluous in a good political system,
92 
PENSIONS.
according to the opinion of the late ambassador, Count Chateaubriand, who said, "le tems des ambassades est passe et celui des
consulates arrive," our constitution would not be against the adopting 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 possible.  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 outlays, travelling, etc., if not expressly reserved. There are a
number of offices which require very little regular office attention, 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 Washing,ton, 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
93 
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 provide 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
94 
OFFICES.
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, beggarly, 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
palrty 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 government 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 salaries 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, MIr. Hopital, chancellor under the profligate Catherine
de MIedicis, preferred the selling or farming out of the offices, to
deprive the vicious court of the occasion to fill them with its creatures. In several Swiss cantons the same policy has'been adopted
to preclude hungry office-seekers, and stop their hunting for office.
95 
THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT.
The best help promises self-government, self-control in this difficulty.  If each is his own governor in the right direction, he. of
course, needs none to govern him. St. Paul understood this perfectly 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 majority, which promises offices, salaries, jobs, etc. They may exercise a great influence upon the making of laws and their execution, if the offl*ials 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 disputes 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.  WhIat 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
96 
JUDICIARY.
to time ordain and establish. The judges, both of the supreme and inferior
ourts, shall hlold their offices during good behavior, and shall, at stated
times, receive for their services a comnpensation, which shall not be dimin ishecd during their continuance in office."
This is the third branch of the institution called federal government 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
thisi 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 purpose an institution called state, with a constitution.   Out of this
institution comes the judiciary, in order to make it entirely independent 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 realization 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 needful infterior courts, a(ccording to time and circumstances.   The
supreme court held at Washlington is the highest legal authority.  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 expen.sive and too long protracted.  This is applicable to all courts
orgcanized after the English fashion; because they act not under
strIict codes of procedure, but under their own rules.  Still, it is
in the nature of cases comrning 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
97 
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 publ)lic 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 diffebrent 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
98 
JUDICIAL POWER.
claims raised against them or their treasuries, and refused, may
be tried like all other claims. Even in G'eat Britain, whichl is
in all these things much behind time, the chancellor has some
authority to decide on such claims. A monarch, called sovereign- a thing we have not-who pretends that ~  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 independent 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 MIassachusetts and South Carolina, or between MIichigan
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 constitutional 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 logrolling 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 business 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 estimation, to eighty odd millions of dollars. There is much attraction
99 
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 wouild 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 factitious 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 politicians 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.
',,..
100 
JURY TRIALS.
J
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 CQnstitution 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 original jurisdiction. In all the other cases before mentioned, the supreme court
shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such exceptions, 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 provision 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 government. The word sovereignty, obsolete with us and not occurring in this constitution, irritates unnecessarily the feelings of zealous state-rights champions and partisans, who make political capital out of it. Jurisdiction makes no subjects, but means only the
authority given to a court over certain civil and criminal cases in
a certain district. There is no court for a man who shuns lawsuits 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 when 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, ordains 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 unjustly misapplied by the abolitionists for party purposes. There
101 
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 parties, 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 civil 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
oig,ht to be indicted and tried like a criminal. Even you, my dear
daughters, will discover that behind this partisan manceuvre 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 established justice, the bulwark of civil liberty. The federal constitution appreciates it well; her framers well knew that state institutions are useless burdens if they do not bring a prompt administration of justice according to law.
But it seems as if the present generation has lost much of the
innate sense of justice. A restoration of it can do no harm.
102
i 
TREASON.
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, except 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 regard 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, tile 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 government. Rebellion goes not so far-but is an insurrection against
lawful authority. Under this category comes the vigilance committee of San Francisco, however necessary its organization may
be for the commun;ty. Revolution implies a radical change in
the government, such one as has been successfully tried by the
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THE NATIONAL GOYERNMENT.
North American English colonists. All these movements are
symptoms of social diseases. Their main cause is- utter neglect
of justice.
Major Andre6, of revolutionary mnemory, was found guilty of
treason, and punished by death, according to law. When General 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 supporting the English,  the steward had injured his country.  So
thought WVaslhington.  His steward thought that he acted prudently 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 moral and religious duties; because without justice there is no real morality, no real
charity, 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 religion 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 o)ur states never had been defaulters, if their governments had administered the affirs strictly according 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 wanton legislation and mismanagement of our public institutions!
My children, never approve or join a party which has treasonable tendencies against our Union. This is the ardent wish of
your affectionate father.
104 
MISCELLANEOUS.
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 incident to and consequent 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, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state. And the Congress may,
by general laws, prescribe the manner in which such acts, records, and proceedings 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. Without our Union, Rhode Island would be a foreign country to Massachusetts, 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 judicially taken notice of by other nations, but must be proved,
like other facts, when they come under examination. Thus, without 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*
105 
THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT.
ever, not even bound labor, should have the least biasing influence 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 immunities 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 tyrannical 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.
106 
MISCELLANEOUS.
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, laudable 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, irresistible 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 republican 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 rebellion, 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.
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THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT.
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 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 Citizenri. - 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 misunderstandings, 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 remedies 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
108 
FUGITIVE-SLAVE LAW.
society, I am going to say, the use of force against existing laws
and their executors, is one of the most censurable and contemptible 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 thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation
therin, 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 law. It is applicable to all persons
engageed 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 importance, because the party to whom labor is due has bestowed considerable expenses upon such laborers, by raising them, or remunerating 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 legislatures 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 expressly acknowledge a property-right of a parent to the use of
109 
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 protected 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 shoemakingrand
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 territorial rights. Free soil politics is an imported European article
(as the whole Abolition agitation). If the Englishmen and Russians, 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 (glebe 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 will happen under similar circumstances again and everywhere. Slavery is transient, liberty permanent. The free-soil
talk can in a sensible American, who knows the difference between his country and Europe, only excite ridicule; for a little
thinking must convince him that our bound labor is a mere personal 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
I
110 
FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW.
vated provinces, to abolish serfdom. It is profitless there. A
European seigneur must see how he can get along with his manorborn 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 according 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 captured 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 crownproperty, 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
ill 
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 Afiricans, or per
chance, by Chinese? Do you believe that the Duke of Sutherland 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 subsistence. Each must and will possess something. Industry is producing, 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 prefer 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. Thiere would
be an end of social order and of subsistence by abolition. The
112 
FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW.
industry which supports society there, and contributes so much to
the comfort and wealth of the world, would collapse at once; cotton, rice, sugar, tobacco, and other products of the southern
climates, would disappear almost entirely from the market. Never
have Afiicans in mass been better treated by any nation than by
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, savageness and slavery in Africa; secondly, domestication, the first step
to the 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 employed one minute longer than it is profitable and needed. To
control all these circumstances is the business of those who are surrounded 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 annually 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
113 
THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT.
South, and a stoppage of that clumsy English abolition and freesoil 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, comparatively.  The policy of prohibiting, instead of regulating the importation of saves or savage Africans to Europe or America, for domestication, is from a mundane view, still debatable.*  Without
transplanting these Africans to America or Europe and domesticating 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,
tliouh encouraged, assisted, and regulated emigration of negroes from Africa
to the fields of labor and enterprise on the opposite shore. The Afirican
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. IIe 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 hlie had acquired in his period of service. The benefits 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 prin(iple, but it is something
better and safer; it is the right course of nature, and the way in which mankind has hitherto been civilized. But it is prevented by the effort to which
national pride has now committed us.  We interpose our wooden walls between the vast reservoir of African labor and the channels of industrv and
civilization into wlii(,h it is ready to run.  Of course we are prepared to find
any number of English politicians ready to maintain this or any other national hypo(crisy.  Such diseases must run their course, even if the climax
should happen to be a severe one."
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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 laborers. 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 imported 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 slavery 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 impulsiveness 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 bondage abroad for good old Father Time to abolish. Think only of
the bondage of superstition, of political party, of mammon, of libertinism, 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! Why,
tl)erefore, 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 measure in eating, loving, writing, talking, preaching, and to respect
and obey faithfully constitutions and laws made by and with the
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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 tolegislate 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 presidential 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 territories. It has the power to organize or regulate a territory, but
not to legislate on the domes.ic affairs and laborers, or waiters, or
chambermaids, or mechanics, or churches, or other municipal subjects. It is one of my principal objects in these letters to show
that the federal constitution has not the least concern in the maint-,nce 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 northern state constitutions as injudicious, uncivil, and entirely superfluous in our Union, and indeed, against the best interests of the
bound laborers, as I have noticed before. Fanaticism in lawmaking is a terrible curse to society. It has become fashionable,
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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 nations, 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 despotism 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 freesoilism lead. You see how these kinds of "republicans" are
making common cause with the dukes, queens, kings, and emperors in Europe. No better monarchists exist in Prussia, Austria, 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 government-viz: one head as executive, and all that is good in a republican government, viz: the representative form blended with
the democratic, surrounded by the necessary checks. Still all
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forms of governments are, of course, useless, if the laws are not
executed with a goodwill. 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 persecution of the editors, printers, publishers, and all in the concern.
But let us turn away from such Boston notions. You have already experience enough in housekeeping to know that good
masters make good servants. The exemplary good order, prevalent in the regions where our four millions of African slaves are
held, obviously proves that they are well managed. The men, fellow-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 influence upon these things, for they are the managers of the domestic 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 attention 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
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come now to the annexation business, which, at the time, at least,
when Texas was admitted into the Union, caused so much universal anxiety- such a sea of alarming prophecies about the downfall 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 novus ordo
seculorum.
The rule is that a colony, settled upon an adjacent territory
belonging to the United States, when she has reached a population 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 territory 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 produced 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
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and instruction) of society. If a similar plan should be adopted
with the Africans their iate would be like that of the red-skinsdestruction. The Indians can be as little cultivated at home as
the Africans.   They should have been for this purpose transported 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 imperative 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 population, 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 political mutual control of which I wrote in a prior letter-but also
because such states acquire, in consequence of party organizations, 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 become 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
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soc(iety for municipal and national state districts and organizations.
Thllis is a most imp)ortant subject for the consideration of states mei, 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 goveinment nLore and more impracticable.   History proves
that the power- of self-government is lost in states of too great
a pIol)ul-aton.   Fiance, withl  thirty-five millions of inhabitants
nevexr will be a republ)lic for a longer time than it requires to pull
down the tirone in Paris.   She should be first divided into at
least tliity-five state districts; for the municipal political business,
withl a central federal government like ours, for the national busines.s, to become a stable republic. In a monarchy the municipal
auid national business is blended and centralized.  It would be constantly tliihown into confusion if not supported  by a powerful
soliliery, rich  hereditary  aristocracy, a  hereditary  dynasty, a
wealtlhy state church, aud more such props, against which, if well
comnbiied, a discontented or oppressed people can not do much.
lBut as soon as these artificial l)'ops give way, and especially the
army turns traitor, the crowni rolls into the street, where it is a
llaytliing of the mobs.   If you understand the federal constitution
well you will better understand the history of bygone states, empires, and republsi(s, esp)ecially those of France.   From this history the noble fi'amers 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
nine teen 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 lhas 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 sublject to abuse, as all other
thiniigs in this world.
Remarik here that when the federal constitution was framed
every state tolerated slavery.  Since that time two, only two states
have been added sanctioniig slavery, so that there are at present
6
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fifteen slave states, all counted, while there have sprung up seventeen 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 XXVIII.
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 constitution, 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 thinlysettled 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 independent state. This once done, the state is an indissoluble part of the
Union, except Congress should see fit to exclude it on constitutional 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.
4
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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' not
included within the limits of Missouri, slavery and involuntary
servitude should for ever be prohibited. By this act Congress
was involved in the slatery 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, but 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, Europeans 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
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I
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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
bona fde 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 supports 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 resented 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 supreme court in the case of Dred Scott against his master, claiming his freedom on the ground that he had resided two years,
by the act of his owner, in a state where slavery was prohibited by its constitution, and afterward in a territory from
which it was prohibited by the Missouri compromise. The supreme
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TERRITORIES.
court denies the validity of his claim, and decides the following
points:-              -
First. Negroes, whether slave or free, that is men of the African race, are not citizens of the United States, by the constitution.
Second. The ordinance of 1787 had no independent constitutional 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 territory 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 government there, depend on the general provisions of the constitution,
which defines in this, as in all other respects, the powers of Congress.
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 constitution confers, so it cannot constitutionally delegate any such
powers to a territorial government organized by it under the constitution.
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.
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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 republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion;
and on application of the legislature, or of the executive (when the legislature can not be convened), against domestic violence."
Harmony in a confederation requires that the forms of the government 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 Amphyctionic Congress, sapped the foundation of their confederacy,
ending in their subjection to the Macedonians.
Congress is by this clause pledged to guaranty free governments, the most simple, the most natural, and the best, if not permitted 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 governments 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 wellgoverned state, where the executive has a sharp look upon the
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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 republics, 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 ambition. If both institutions act their parts well, and the people are
well able to control them practically, the American system of organizing society and managing their public affairs, must necessarily be the best men can devise. When one of those writers
(Rev. T. S. Hughes, in his English History) says, that our republic 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.
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THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT.
LETTER XXXV.
Amending the Constitution. - Check upon large States - Puhblic Del)ts.  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 admit it might not be so perfect as they wished to make it, and therefore provided how it might be improved.
ARTICLE V.
Of Amendments.
"1. The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendmentts to this conistitution, or, on the a)pli(cation
of the legislatures of two thirds of the several states, shall ca!ll a convention
for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to al intents
and purposes as part of this constitution when ratified by the le,,islatlires of
three fourths of the several states, or bv conventions in three fourths thereof,
as the one or the other mode of ratification may he proposed hy the Congress;
provided that no amendment, which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, shall in anv 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 capitation 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 compromises, 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 representatives.
ARTICLE VI.
Miscellaneous.
"1. All debts contracted, and engagements entered into, before the adoption of this constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this
constitution, as under the confederation."
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UNITED STATES LAWS SUPREME.
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, peo)ple may
enjoy the greatest spiritual freedom, expand freely their noblest
faculties, so far as circumstances permit. Let then the philosophers develop the truth, but not enforce their opinions with Sharpe's
rifles. Every good thing has its proper time for use.
6*
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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 affirmation, 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 intention, are placed everywhere under such a solemn obligation,
although it is by some thought superfluous, under a written constitution, 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 unscrupulous 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 conscience; but if he accepts such a platform, swears the oath, as
prescribed in this clatase, and acts and votes according to the platform and lets slide the constitution, he obviously commits perjury.
The chaplains of the legislature and Congress should often expose this danger of violating the supreme law on party grounds.
They should do it as the monitors of the moral and religious precepts, 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.
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RELIGIOUS TEST.
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
humanityto 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 framers, 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 discordant states in one stable-confederation (e pluribus unum), and
opened a new period in the history of mankind (novus ordo seculorum). It has, upon the rational principles of self-government,
established justice and civil liberty; and is not only a masterspecimen of a free political family compact, but also the first organic law, which effectively destroyed the modern Hydra: RELIGIOUS INTOLLERANCE.
ARTICLE VII.
Of the Ratifcation.
"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
131 
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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. - Judiciary 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 encroaching 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 Religion, 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
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AMENDMENTS.
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 subjects, even about the aberrations of the Mormon church, Congress
has no righlit to legislate. To say a word about petitions is gratuitous 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 constitution about the militia.   Congress has no power to legislate on
the keeping and bearing of arms, except in the District of Columbia.
"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 indemnification 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 infamous 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 deprived of life, liberty, or property, without dute process of law; nor shall
private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."
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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
ii the constitution. The maxim, that an accused criminal shlall
not incriminate himself, is equivalent to a prohlibition of the confession 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 wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously 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 compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance 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 constitution at all, for they ought to be regulated by a statute according 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 become 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, silall 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
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AMENDMENTS.
fore, not prejudice or alter anything in the social affairs and individual 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 constitution, 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 selfevident 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 materially (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 member 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 vicepresident."
135 
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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, surpassing the legislative branch, in the prompt and thorough management 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 illuminates 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 constitution. There is no clause in it, which may require a modification 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.
Washlington'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 imnprove, 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
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LETTER OF PRESENTATION.
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 Waslhington,
"iii 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 between 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 situation, 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 involved our prosperity, felicity, safety -perhaps our national existence.   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 deference and concession which the peculiarity of our political situation
rendered indispensable."
How true!  These few lines alone delineate the clear, practical,
sagaciolus mind of this great and good citizen.   As  a young
wornmin never should enter into the matrimonial compact without
liaving befoire made up her mind to dispense with girlish fancies
and hIabits, 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, capricious, arrogant, unsocial feelings and pretensions; for only in such
feelings consists what General Washington, in his letter, politely
calls independent sovereignty.
137
I
I 
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 requiring 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 they 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 Committee 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
138 
COMMITTEES.
various plans of revenue and finance for the support and credit
of the government. -
The principal committees in either house are: the committees on Foreign Relations, on the Judiciary, on Military Affairs, on Commerce, etc.  These committees are called "Standing 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 freedom of debate, under a chairman appointed for the occasion.
The rules of the house do not govern, but simply order is preserved as in common deliberative assemblages. When the
Committee of the Whole have finished their discussions, they
rise, and, like other committees, 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 sanction of the house. Thus, before a proposition of a member
may become a law, the bill has to pass three readings, a committee, 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 considerate 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 constitution. 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
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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 inquiries 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.
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. - Jal):l 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,
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BUSINESS.
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, appreciated, and respected, and nowhere more than in the Ijnited States.
What are the thirty millions hoarded in the banks of New York
without business? Mere dross. What are the ships in our harbors 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. Without hard thinking, exertion, perseverance, experimenting, diligence,
and labor that sweats the brow-in one word, without methodical 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 unpractical, 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 transform the most common, inert, hetereogenous, rare, and incongruous
things and elements into a living, blissful, harmonious, mutuallybenefitting 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 conquered 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-loaferdrones in Italy (a railroad in Rome!) Spain, Mexico, and elzewhere 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 unappropriated nature sleeps!  Its sway is universail.  Proud em
141 
THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT.
perors and haughty queens, arrogant sabre knights and dull brev  iary monks bow before it, and become business men iR 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 statesrnen.  I most certainly would not
trouble you so much with those things, if the happiness of families 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, energies, 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 manufactural 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.
142 
POLITICAL BUSINESS.
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 expense, 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 government 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 business. 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
sea, 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 congress.onal whaling revelations, because stirring up uncalled-for competition. 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 salaries 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
143 
THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT.
conciliation, insolvencies, banks, railroads, etc., whiclh may be by
the ordinary officials attended to as well.   But their mo.st,uccessful operations consist in manufacturing bogus political business,
which they do by drawing free social business into the spliere of
states, for which purpose they even break down constitutional tow,n,
county, or city organizations, and consolidate them, as they call
this operation, to get larger spheres for monopolizing gas and railroad companies, and all kinds of contracts and jobs beyond tilhe
possibility of a control by the people.   These tactics are  the
cause of exorbitant taxes, debts, and inevitable corrup)tion.  Badlygoverned New York city alone, consequently, pays as much in
city taxes as a respectable well-managed kingdom in Euiope in
state taxes. To stem, now, this wrong current in public affairs
so detrimental to society, I beseech you, and 1all men al%(l  oilien,
to learn and understand well exactly what is politicad bu]iness and
what is not.
In a society organized like ours, on the naturial 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; instructioni
in schools, academies, colleges, universities, etc.; literature; religion; 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, fbr the
administration of justice when needed. A free state government
indeed never should have the means for such business. Ini free
society men are presumptively perfectly able to manage those
objects alone; and this ability constitutes indeed the great difference 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 fertilizing of the lands in Gascogne. How you would laugh if our
president or one of our governors should indulge in such a(lvice!
Still, Congress meddles with similar things, as seed, books, etc.;
144 
FREE SOCIAL BUSINESS.
and states. have embarked in the building of canals and railroads,
and the manufatcturing 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 involved 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 Congress 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 connected with the prior transportation business, are ruined by the
state. Later some private citizens construct cheap and expeditious railroads, which supercede by competition the government
canal. This canal being backed by state power requires the railroads to be taxed for its support-a tax which is called "discriminating' duties.'" Thus begins and ends such a canal in injustice, 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 
145 
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 sappiness 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 administration of justice, the greatest public order, economy, and safety,
and leave their intelligent, enterprising, wealthy, and very speculative citizens at liberty to take care of the rest.
If you understand the nature of the non-political or private business 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 fiaming the constitution, separated the national fiom the municipal 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 constitution. It is managed by accountable and responsible representatives, and never by the people directly. After deducting this
business there remains  Second. For a state the business of organizing society politically, 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
146 
POLITICAL BUSINESS.
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 ejections, etc. There occur
supervisors, sheriffs, judges, jurors, etc. This district is also a
representative and working district. At the head of the executive, 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 constitution, every township have ONE executive, assisted by constables 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.
147
i 
THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT.
If you will examine the merits of a government, begin first
with the towns (comnmunes), and the management of their public 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 rowdies, 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 imposture 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 resolve, 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 profligacy 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 permanent 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 living a while, during the busy stage of life, in large cities, generally terminate it within the precincts of a town. A state constitution 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
148 
SIZE OF STATE, COUNTY, TOWN.
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 complaint, and acts admirably well. It is the only just and respectable manner to raise taxes among free men. We may still learn
something from Europe.
Exceptions from this districting are incorporated cities and villages.  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 resulting from a bad execution of the laws.
It is further obvious, that for a good performance of the necessary 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 inhabitants, equal to two thousand families; a city-like built township
not much over twenty thousand inhabitants, equal to four thousand families; and a county not over five urban or ten rural
towns.
The real cause of the downfall pf republics and of their expensive and corrupt administration, is their imperfect organization 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 under all circum
149 
THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT.
.stances. In monarchies the prince takes studiously the self-control 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 administration 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 subordinate 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 jurisdiction. 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.  Mlen  have  a strong desire for forbidden
things. Monarchy is a forbidden fruit for us; still, by centralizing towns, by letting towns grow up to states, and states to empires, 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 business resulting from it in one or a few hands, with the emoluments,
patronage, and influence, standing armies are made use of. Still,
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 Francisco, etc., and making thus a clean sweep with the townships, we
graft a monarchical scion upon the liberty tree of a free society.
150 
SIZE OF STATE, COUNTY, TOWN.
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  extraordinavy  circumstances.  Their failure proves that republics are not the work of
miners, projectors, and Sharpe's rifle associations and priesteraft.
So we may safely argue that all states, counties, and towns, beyond 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 constant 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 organize large, densely-populated districts, evidently by avoiding
the centralization of the public business, and by sustaining independent town organizations, as the following extract from Commodore 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 Matsmai, 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
151 
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 responsible 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 disturbance, 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 descriptions 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 districting 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
152 
SIZE OF CONFEDERATION.
ruly. Who can, should shun with his family large places with
centralized administrations, to be not troubled by mobs, corruption, high exorbitant taxes, public debts, vigilance committees,
extras, and other evils incident to such defective political organizations.
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,,uffer 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 building, 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, distributed, and so employed that, with proper supervision, it MrST
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*
153 
THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT.
states, and confederations of states. A written regulationfor 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 confined 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
.[onroe 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 those concerns is, within its proper sphere,
exclusive or independent. This rule may be extended over a continent, viz. over America, in regard to Europe, etc., if all American governments would adopt and execute it. This principle,
however, will fall to the ground, if all states aim at nothing but
justice, forthlien there would be no chance for interference or encroachments, or even treaties, at all..
By means of licenses a certain class of public business is committed 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
1.54 
LICENSES.
sing extended for the purpose of raising revenufies, 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 certain degree of internal industrial freedom, but are exclusive in
regard to foreigners. The system of classifying the trades, and
armiing 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, evon only by raising taxes, has not interfered with the
liberty of industry, so that orie 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 expansion of humanity depends upon the full enjoyment of this
noble gift of nature.
" The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional 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 secure.
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 government in a constitution which expressly prohibits to meddle, by
special laws, with the constitutional business of towns and counties, and with the free non-political business of society at large,
school-books and the bible included?
MIen 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
155 
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 businress centralization, eulogized by D'Israeli in his late speech against
the Palmerston cabal.  Still the "military disasters," the complaints of the clumsy management of the army and the civil service, filling the blue books for years, are the result of this business
accumulation in London. Of course, Napoleon III. praised centralization 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?  Answer: because it removes firom Congress the last vestige or precedent of a power to legislate on a local business, bound labor,
which does not belong to its constitutional sphere, the direct consequence 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 representation. 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 itself by a great number of officials of all sorts, in which regard
we have again to mention first the Chinese and Japanese governments 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
156 
LICENSES.
busybodiness 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, confiscate books and papers, or tamper with the spelling and readingbooks in schools. The first may cost Napoleon IlL his crown,
the second will deprive a republican government of its dignity,
the crown which adorns it and gives it authority. Also, the business 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 theological 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 public 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, industry, and business.
157 
THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT.
LETTER XLI.
Election Impulses. -Social Movements organized in the United States,
Health producing.- Socia,l Movements in Europe destructive. -Famine,
Gold, Conquest, Religio,i, Liberty. -Main  Social-Impulses.-Liberty Impulse of the Republican Party.- Americain Party acting unimpulsive.
-Dear Uiiion-Intipulse 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.
Mlasses and large assemblages move by impulses, which may
be right or wrong, genuine or sham, according to circumstances.
lIasses do not reason like individuals.  Reason is cold, void of caloric, 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 society, however, like that in Europe, its
motion is left to nature, social tempests, called wars, emeutes, revolutions, and the individual is bemastered by restrictions, caste
distinctions, and a great many other political and clerical contrivances well known. Social movements in Europe are mostly destructive, while with us they are a necessary part of our social
regimen and well-being.  As a general thing famine, gold, conquest, 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 republicans 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
158
!r 
ELECTION IMPULSES.
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 required by circumstances.  Now, I ask, was the liberty-impulse
of the republicans, indeed, a necessity, or merely manufactured
for the political trade? MIy 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 establishing, 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 social movement, or anybody else but their masters?  Sane men in
Miassachusetts 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, powerful speakers, and inspired preachers to the contrary notwithstanding.   People here appreciated this charlatan liberty-cry well.
But not so in the distance; there people believe in the 3Ietropolitan 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 German 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
159 
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 popular vote the most vexatious business-question: shall the legislation of the late Congress in regard to the equal rights of our citizens 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 liberty agitation, like others, is owing to their steering for this unionresult since 1819, by resolves of their legislature and state democratic 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 liberty, and justly so, because without a firm harmonious union we
could not enjoy our liberty at all. MIay this sentiment predominate for ever.
I mentioned the year 1860. Then returns the presidential election 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.
160 
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
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 Independence, adopted, after an animated debate, on the 4th of July,
1776, by the Congress. Its author, as you know, was Thomas Jefferson, the most illustrious compeer of Washington. The principal object of this celebrated document was: To deflne the position
of the young nation and its government; to declare why a separation from the government of Great Britain had taken place, and
to enlisten the sympathies of the civilized nations and their governments in their favor.  This declaration bears the character of the
exciting times; it boldly defies the authority of a proud royal master, 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-being, the platform of the young American nation, upon which the
war of the Revolution was fought. You may call it an arraignment, an appeal, a challenge, or the "shriek" of an outraged peopie; 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 children 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 policies under which they are born.  Not two men are politically
equal, and never will be. Women and men are never absolutely
equal in p)oliti(al regard.  There is no absolute equality of civil
rilghts, 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
161 
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
nature, calculated to rouse the feelings. Only in this form they
answer to their purpose; it is wrong to take them fiom another
view.  All platforms, all addresses of generals to their armies
on the battle-field, belong to the same class of literary and oratorical 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 hereditary rights, as governing, exemption from taxes, etc., are incompatible with justice. And then it was a seasonable fling, at the Englilsh king and nobility, who opposed the independence of the thirteen colonies, because the people there were BOIIN SUBJECTS of the
English crown.  This was especially opposed by Jefferson.  In a
much later letter, dated Monticello, June 24, 1827, upon an invitation 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 under 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 born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few,
booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace
of God."
No better explanation of the true meaning of this much-disputed 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 mistake this sentence about the equal creation of men, as so many do,
from mere party views, or a too strictly literal interpretation.
162 
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
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 government 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 history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment 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 attend to them. He has refused to pass other laws for the aciomodation of
large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of
representation in the legislature- a right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only. He has called together legislative bodies at places
unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the repository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. 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; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the
163 
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
people at large for their exercise- the state remaining, in the meantime, cxposed 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 offlees and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers 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 cutting off our trade with all
parts of the world; for imposing taxes on us without our consent; for depriving 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 arbitrary 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 suspending 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 destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the worjs of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances 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, whose
known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes,
and conditions.
164 
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
In every stage of these oppressions, we have petitioned for redress in the
most humble terms. Our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated 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 nnwarrantable jurisdiction over us.  We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to
their native justice and magnanimity, and we hlave conjured them, by the
ties of our common kindred, to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably 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, friendls.
We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in
general Congress assembled, appealing to the Supremne 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 independent states may
of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with at firm reliance on
the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our
lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.
165
I 
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 ofthe 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 confederatioii was almost a total failure. To save the country, some distinguished 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 important 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
166 
WASHINGTON'S CIRCULAR LETTER.
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 impossible to realize, and even inclined to revolt.   (Shay's revolt).
Ilow 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 folIlows:
"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 necessaries and conveniences of life, are now, by the late satisfactory pacification,
acknowledged to be possessed of absolute freedom and independency; they
are firom 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 enjoyment, but Heaven has crowned tll 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 recollection 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 aid superstition, but at am epoch when the rights of mankind were 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,
throtugh a long succession of years, are laid open for use; and their collected
wisdom ma,y be happily appli,d in tle establishment of our'forms of government. The free cultivation (,f letters, the unbounded extension of commerce,
the progressive refinement of manners, the growling liberalilty of sentiment,
and, above all, the pure and benign light of revelation, haive had a melioirating
influence on mankind and in(r,.ased the blessings of society. At this auspicious period the United States came into existence as a nation, and if their
citizens should not be completely free and happy, the fault will be entirely
their own.
"Such is our situation and su,.h are our prospects.  But notwithstanding
the cup of blessing is thus reach(d outto us-inotwithstanding happiness is
ours if we have the disposition to seize the occasion andi make it our own,
yet it appears to me there is an option still left to the Uiiited States of
America whether they will be respectable and prosperous or contemptible and
I
167 
WASHINGTON'S CIRCULAR LETTER.
miserable as a nation. This is the time of their political probation; this is
tihe 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 may be the ill-fated moment for
relaxing the powers of the Union, annihilating the cement of the confederation, and exposing us to become the sport of European politics, which may play
one state against another, to prevent their growing importance, and to sort'e their
own interested purposes; for, according to the system of policy the states shall
adopt at this moment, they wvill stand or fall; and by their confirmation or
lapse, it is yet to be decided whether the revolution must ultimately be considered as a blessing or a curse; a blessing or a curse not to the present age
alone, for with our fate will the destiny of unborn m?illions 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 language 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 iaay 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 determinination 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 wellbeing, 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 prejudices 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 specious pretext he may attempt it, will merit the bitterest execration and the severest
punishment which can be ioflicted 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 awave how
168 
WASHINGTON'S CIRCULAR LETTER.
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 beautiful 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 Washington'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
169 
WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ORDERS.
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 fellowcitizens, and acquire great popularity, especially if the war be
one of defence for the protection of liberty, and required by justice 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 indulge in ambitious ideas of conquest. No general was ever freer
from them, and of the pernicious passion of military vainglory
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 exist, as such, without a strong arm for the common defence. Universal peace is an absolute idea, like that of general virtue, goodness,
etc. We, as rational beings, can form such ideas; but the absolute 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 death, 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 surrounded 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
170 
WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ORDERS.
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 Washlington,
before your eyes, when in times that try men's hearts and courage you  are called to arms for the  defence of your country.
Read the following extract, from his farewell orders to the armies 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 obviously contain sentiments, which have influenced the public men
of his time, and especially those who framed the federal constitution.  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 performance 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 recommended 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 unworthy treatment produce no invective, or any instance of intemperate coTnduct;
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'aore
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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, thait untless the principles of theJedera' governa'ent were properly supported, anid the powers of the Uniont increased, the honoutr,
dignity, and juzstice of the nation would b)e lost for ever, yet he can not help repeatilig, on this occasion, so interesting a'sentiment, and leaving it as his last injunction 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 tnion 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, aind to bid a final adieu to the armies 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.  5Iay ample justice be done them here, and  nay the
choicest of heaven's favors, both here and hereafter, attend those, who under
the divine auspices, have secured innunierable 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"
Under such a commander, could the final issue of the war be
doubtful? It makes one a better man and citizen to read Washington'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 legislatures, you may easily separate the wheat from the chaff, and be
guided by them through life.
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WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS.
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 retirement 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; h6 was the presiding officer of this most important assemblage, and, by the grateful people, elected as their first president, under the constitution
which bears his name, and for which he labored so long. He organized 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 thinking men as an eminently clear and true exposition of the commonsense principles of free democratic governments. I have added
appropriate heads, and recommend it to your most careful attention. It is the real foundation of our American common law, considering the source from which it comes, of more value than English, 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 being 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 resolution I have formed, to decline being considered among the number 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,
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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 influenced by no diminution of zeal for your future interest, no deficiency of grateful respect for your past kindness; but am supported 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 motives which I was not at liberty to disregard, to return to that retirement 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 mature 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 internal, 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 contributed toward the organization and administration of the government, 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 admonishes me more and more, that the shade of retirement is as necessary to me as it will be welcome. Satisfied that if any circum
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WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS.
stances have given peculiar value to my services, they were temporary, 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 Gratitudefor Confidence.
"In looking forward to the moment which is intended to terminate 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 services faithful and persevering, though in usefulness unequal to my
zeal. If benefits have resulted to our country from these services, let it always be remembered to your praise, and as an instructive 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 unfrequently, 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 recommending 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
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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 ore
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 tranquillity at home, your peace abroad; of your safety, of your
prosperity, of that very liberty which you so highly prize. But,
- it is easy to foresee, that from different causes, and from different 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 attachment 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 whatever 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.
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WASHINGTON' S FAREWELL ADDRESS.
Citizens, by birth or choice, of a common country, that country
has a rilght to concentrate your affections. The name of AMERICAN,* which  belongs  to you, in your national capacity, must
always exalt the just pride of patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations.   With slilght shades of
difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits, and political 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 dangers, 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 manufacturing industry.  The South, in the same intercourse, benefiting by
the agency of the North, sees its agriculture grow, and its commerce 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 consequence, it must of necessity owe the secure enjoyment of the indispensable 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*
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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 advantage, whether derived from its own separate strength, or from
an apostate and unnatural connection with any foreign power,
must be intrinsically precarious.
In Un?ion, 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 particularly hostile to republican liberty. In this sense it is, that
your Union ought to be considered as a main prop of your liberty, 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 whole 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
ease were criminal. We are authorized to hope that a proper organization 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
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I 
WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS.
our country, while experience shall not have demonstrated its impracticability, there will always be reason to distrust the patriotism 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 discriminations, 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 misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts. You can not
shield yourselves too much against the jealousies and heart-burnings 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 ratification, 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 everything 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 brethren, 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, between the parts, can be an adequate substitute; they must inevitably experience the infractions and interruptions which alliances,
in all times, have experienced. Sensible of this momentous truth,
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I 
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 containing within itself a provision for its own amendment, has a just
claim to your confidence and your support. Respect for its authority, 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 deliberation 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 illconcerted 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
Rights 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 subvert the power of the peGple, and to usurp for themselves the
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WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS.
reigns of government, destroying afterward the very engines
which had lifted them to unjust dominion.
IVarnings against Innovations made in the Constitution by uinprincipled Men.
"Toward the preservation of your government and the permanency of your present happy state, it is requisite not only that
you steadily discountenance irregular oppositions to its acknowledged 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 governments as of other human institutions; that experience is the surest
standard by which to test the real tendency of the existing constitutions 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.
IVarnings 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 geographical discriminations.  Let me now take a more comprehensive 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
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WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS.
stifled, controlled, or oppres*edi 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, sharpened 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.
WJairnings 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 illfounded 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 subjected to the policy and will of another.
Parties (especially Standing), not to be Encouraged.
"There is an opinion that parties in free countries arc 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 patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit
of party.  But in those of the popular character, in gosvernments
purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged.   Fiomn 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
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WASHINGTON'S' FAREWELL ADDRESS.
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 administration to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one
department to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment 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 reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing 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 precedent must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit which the use can at any time yield.
Religion, Virtute, and llAorality, the great Pillars of Human Happiness, and the
necessary Springs of Popular Government.
"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, 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.
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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 obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in
courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition, 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 expect 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 attempts 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 essential that public opinion should be enlightened.
Preservation of Public Credit; shunniSq 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 sparingly 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 shunning, 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 maximrs belongs to your representatives; but it is necessary that public opinion should co-operate. To facilitate to them the performance 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
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WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS.
-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 conduct of the government in making it, and for a spirit of acquiescence in the measures for obtaining revenue which the public exigencies may at any time dictate.
Good Faith and Justice toward all, as an Examnple 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 recommended by every sentiment which ennobles human nature. Alas,
it is rendered impossible by its vices?
Avoiding National Antipathies or Passionate Attachments.
"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 is 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 calculations of policy. The government sometimes participates in the national propensity, and adopts, through passion, what reason would
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WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS.
reject. At other times it makes the animosity of the nation sub servient to projects of hostility, instigated by pride, ambition.
and 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 enmities 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 disposition to retaliate, in the parties from whom equal privileges are
withheld; and it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens (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 public 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 attachments 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 republican government.  But that jealousy, to be useful, must be impartial, else it becomes the instrument of the very influence to
be avoided, instead of a defence against it. Excessive partiality
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WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS.
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 favorite, are liable to become suspected and odious, while its tools and
dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people to surrender their interests.
J'arningis against Political or Diplomnatic Connections with Foreign Govern              ments, and Europl)ean 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 frequent controversies, the causes of which are essentially foreign to
our concerns. Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate 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 resolve upon, to be scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations, 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, interest, humor, or caprice?
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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 engagements 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 establishments, on a respectable defensive posture, we may safely trust to
temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies.
Liberal, not enforced Commnercial Intercourse. Warnings against Courting
National Favors.
Harmony and liberal intercourse with all nations, are recommended by policy, humanity, and interest. But even our commercial 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; establishing, 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 permit, but temporary, and liable from time to time to be abandoned
or varied, as experience and circumstances shall dictate; constantly 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 uill 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 make the strong
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WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS.
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 recompense 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 proclamation of the 22d of April, 1793, is the index to my plan. Sanctioned by your approving voice, and by that of your representatives 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. Having 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 conduct, 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, without anything more, from the obligation which justice and humanity 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.
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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 consistency which is necessary to give it, humanly speaking, the command 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 sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I may have cornmitted 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 fortyfive 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 several generations, I anticipate with pleasing expectation, that retreat,
in which I promise myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of my fellow-citizens, the benign 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
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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 governments, 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 embody in this letter an abridgement of the celebrated treatise,
entitled "The Prince," written by the great "Secretario Fiorentino," 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 Frenlch.)
(Mazzini attempts to carry out this plan in our days.) Macchiavelli 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 research, 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-goverlment is that popular government which consists in a great organism of institutions, or a union of harmonizing systems of laws instinct with self-government. It is of a co-operative or homocratic character, and, in this respect,
the opposite to centralism. It is articulated liberty, inter-guarantying, selfevolving, 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 whieh makes it possible to be at once self-government
and self-governmeat." This means nothing, but republic.
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is striking. Aiacchiavelli'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-Macchiavelli, called that nobleman only a gentleman who served in
the army.
MIacchiavelli 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 prejudice, so says Mlacchiavelli; 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 necessary springs of popular government.
Macchiavelli's prince ought to be terrible at home to his subjects, 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.
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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 attribute the present defective working of our political institutions to
intrinsic faults of the republican system. A mere superficial comparison 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 Mfixed Principalities.
"Countries that have rebelled, and are conquered the second time, are recovered 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 differing 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 himself, 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 usually revenge themselves, but for great ones they can not.
9
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"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 unworthily.
"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, succeed 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 Prineipalities.
"In all cities [states], the meaner and the better sort of citizens are of different humors; and hence it follows that the common people are not willing
to be commnianded and oppressed by the great ones, and the great ones [aristocrats] 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; because he has about him many of his old associates, who, thinking themselves
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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 endeavor 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 absolute 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 complete 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 the
laws]."
13. OfDifferent 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 Mlilitary 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, hawking, 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 worthy of Blame or Applause.
"A prince should be so well instructed as to know how to avoid the scandal 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
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things impartially, we shall find that some things in appearance are virtuous,
and yet, if pursued, would bring certain destruction; and others, on the contrary, 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 covetous, 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 defendinghimself 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, hypocritical, 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
powers 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 understand both whenr. to make use of the rational and when of the brutal way,
in which latter regard he ought to imi;.tate the lion and the fox. A prince,
therefore, that is wise and prudent, can not, nor ought not, to keep his parole, 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, and so submissive to their present necessities, that he who is neat and cleanly in his
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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 employing them upon all occasions, they are extremely prejudicial. It is honorable 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 oftentimes 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 fortunenot 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 people; 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] whn 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 debauching 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
arc easily restrained. He has to strive that in all his actions there may ap
pear magnanimity, courage, gravity, and fortitude, and to avoid being accounted 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, because 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 dissatisfied, 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
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.0
leave things of injustice and envy to the ministry and execution of others,
but acts of favor and grace areto 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 argues weakness in the prince to encourage dissensions, or parties, or factions, 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 confidents.
"A prince, newly advanced, ought to consider well what it was that disposed some to befriend him; if it be not affection to him, but pique and animosity 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 allow 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 profitable 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 himself 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
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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 prudence to decline yourself the sooner, because, by assisting the one, you contribute 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 ordered, 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 immunities 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 societies, 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 actions and designs pointing at his own intcrest 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 themselves 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 understand you are not disobliged by telling the truth. Yet if you suffer every
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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 discreet 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, tbut at his
own, not other people's pleasure, and rather deter people from giving their
advice undemnanded.
"A prince who has no wisdom of his own can never be well advised, unless by accident he commits all to the government and administration of some
honest, discreet man. If a prince, who has no great judg menit 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
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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 "statesystem;" viz., that the first depends upon the principle of selfgovernment 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 outside 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 government of men and land; ours is stable for all times to come,
provided we keep the several parts of it in strict order with reference 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 control of men; ours, finally, depends upon prospective law, thie European upon present customs, without the least guaranty for the future. 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*
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0 
I 
PART SECOND.
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.
LETTER I.
Object of a State Constitution.- Introduction to the Constitution of the
State of New York. - Preamble. -   Union-Slighting.
Mi intention at first was to limit my political conversation with
you to the federal constitution, under which we all live, in whatever 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 thoughtalways a good one- I concluded to place one of our state constitutions 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 continue in the familiar manner, hoping also to avoid thereby the sus
O 
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 purposehave to perform, the state institution is calculated in single instances to force them into a proper self-control, in order to preserve 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 comprehend 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 education 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: —
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PREAMBLE.
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 constitution."
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 distinctly pointing out the real object of an American state constitution. 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 municipal 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 enactment of the federal constitution. Without giving more importance to this great compact than is right, I think it would have
been but proper, fair, and business-like, to mention in this preamble, that the state in question is one of the United States of America. In the manner this constitution is treating the best and
greatest confederation ever made by men, it seems to 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 prudent. To be a member of this confederation must be our greatest
pride, and appear in bold relief upon the escutcheon of every
state, and in distinct words in thle preamble of every constitution.   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 4-their constitutions, by something like the following 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
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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 experiments 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 foreshadows 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, because I do not much approve of the criticizing of laws and constitutions, if they are tolerably good.   But truth will prevail,
whatever my opinion may be aLout this organic law.
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.
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
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BILL OF RIGHTS.
which people wish to be governed. When the English people or
rather 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, indeed, written down. There is no bill of rights in the federal constitution. 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 metropolitan 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 composed 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 citizen 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
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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 faultless 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 parties 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 influence 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.
Ours 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 constitution, the law of majority is, or has been, recognised as imperative; but the English jury, which is but a judicial board,
makes an exception from this rule. Their verdicts require unanimity. 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 refers, abounds. I point out this curiosity here, in order that some
one of our legislatures may abolish it.
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JURORS DISAGREE.
The majority principle works very well in juries on the continent of Europe. To admit, further, that a judicial board can abandon 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 firequent 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 English laws is a dismal swamp of immorality. The profligate personal character of almost all English monarchs, the peculiarly
corrupt manner of the composition of the parliament, the notorious 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 elsewhere.
"3. The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, 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
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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 violate 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 arrested 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 Brooklyn 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
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BAIL.- GRAND JURY.
whom, if not the court of litigation or trial, the case, with questions from both parties, may be sent for this purpose. This is
the judicial practice, to my knowledge, on the continent of Europe. 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 deliberations 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 investigation, 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 prohibition 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 support of the poor, are so many violations of this maxim. Therefore 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
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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 preponderance 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 included) 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 contrivances, as high taxes, standing armies, frequent wars, interference 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 prevented 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.
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FREE SPEECH.
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
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.
You will soon perceive that we are in the beehive of society.
"7. When private property shall be taken for any public use, the compensation 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 special 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 evidence 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 determine 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
213 
ESCHEAT LAWS.
A  democratic society can not exist without the right of assembling. Our government officials are our agents; nothing else.
That such officials ever should stop peaceable meetings, or refuse
to accept petitions, ox 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 jurisdiction of the state; and all lands, the title to which shall fail, from a defect 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 been 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, reserved, 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
215 
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 proceedings 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 this state, or by persons acting under its authority, or shall impair the
obligation of any debts contracted by this state, or individuals, or bodies corporate, 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 Philadelphia, New York among them. In 1776 appeared the Declaration of Independence. A special act may be useful to guide the
courts in regard to the beginning of the political state independence. 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 existing 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
216 
AMERICAN COMMON LAW.
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  pers(tveringly to pursue this course of reform to make them Americai,.
But before we part from this so-called bill of rights, I should poin,t
it out as a sensible trait of this constitution worthy of imitation.
that its fiamers have not inseried the stereotyped phrase gen,rally occurring in other "northern" constitutions, which prohibits
involuntary service or bound labor; because it is not only entirely
superfluou3, this kind of labor being in the north self-prohibitivt,
but also discourteous toward our southern states, and exceedingly
injurious to personal fireedom, by frightening away the mastels
with their bound laborers, from such states, thus depriving tl,e
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. Thle fi'ame must fit society easily; society must not be
cramped into the fi'ame.
I take advantage here to add a few remarks on American common law.   What bears this name at present is of English origin,
and, in regai'd to general maxims, fair enough, but not bett,.r
than the Roman law, the main source of. all European codes,
called, on account of its sound reasoning. written reason.  However,
the Engtlish common law does not exactly answer for our purposes.
InI order to come to an indigenous common  law, our state constitutions should-firstly, prohibit all reference to any foreign law of
whatever oigi,in; 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 interfi ie
with the rights of self-governmrnent, of persons, families, towns, anid
counlties, but that one of their main objects is to protect and gu:Aranty those riglhts; thirdly, that a rule be laid down for the divisi(.n
of overgrown political districts, and  that these districts are pi)hibited fiom contracting debts for private or non-political subjects,
to avoid all chances for repudiations and similar dishonest act,,;
fourtlily, that towns are made resp)onsible for all damages in p' —
sons and property cmused by riots of bands; that counties atire
10
217 
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 Washington desired in his farewell address, must long for a common law
of our own. We are too much governed by foreign laws anta,gonistic 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 expressly 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 Inot 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?
MIy suggestions on the management of our states are at variance with the present practice, and why? because I maintain
that only strictly political business should be intrusted to governments, 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 maintain 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 personal act of brotherly love. The Christian church, fiom its beginning, 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  thlis charity business, if it may not
be entirielvy left with the benevolent, as a mere personal private
affair; instead of doing so we have, by bad centralization, made it
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 Ameri(can, as Washington desired in his farewell address, must long for a common law
of our own. We are too much governed by foreign laws antagonistic 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 expressly 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 inot 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 variance with the present practice, and why? because I maintain
that only strictly political business should be intrusted to governments, 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 maintain that my views are strictly American, and the other EFuropean
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 personal act of brotherly love. The Christian church, fiom its beginning, 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 entirielvy left with the benevolent, as a mere )ersonlal )private
affair; instead of doing so we have, by bad centralization, made it
218 
STATE SCHOLARS.
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 increase 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.
NOTiING 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 legislators and governors. This constitution has adopted what is
219 
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 citizens of Brooklyn and Williamsburgh had to vote on consolidation,
a purely monarchical measure, in the end detrimental for both cities, each being already too large for a good local administration.
They voted affirmatively. No true republican statesman will approve 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 such 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 citizen 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 dollars, 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 unless 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 freehold estate worth two hundred and fifty dollars, but for the people,
that is, men, women, children, and all their interests. Human society is not. like armies, clubs, and partnerships composed of persons, but offamilies. 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,
220 
LANGUAGE IN PUBLIC USE.
in our modern free states, a voting law requires. These are organized 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 generally 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.
221 
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.
"5. All elections bv 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 woman 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 occupied by any qualifiedperson, 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 pols, 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 righlts 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 cheerfully 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 parties, and argue merely upon "business, population, and size,"
as I have often observed. If those three material items are nIot
well adjusted, no election, no change of party, no rotation will im
222 
LEGISLATURE.
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 disbanded, the state clergy abolished, etc., etc. All our disproportionate cities and states will only, by too much office-rotation and
too firequent 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 question: 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 political 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 describe 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 districts, called state, county, and town (cities and villages), an ar
223 
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.
rangement which is of the highest importance for the good dispatch of the municipal business, and the preservation of order and
civil liberty. Interference with the legisl.Iative judicial, and executive rights of these districts are called encroachments or rebellions. Let us see what the constitution contains about the lawmaking powers of those districts.
ARTICLE III.
"1. The legislative power of this state shall be vested in a senate and assembly."
We  meet here the double chamber system  again.
"2. The senate shall consist of thi ty-two members,.ind the senators shall
be chosen for two years.   The assembly shall consist of one hundred  ind
twenty-eight members, who shall be annually elected."
This proviso creates annual sessions, while biennial would promise to prevent too much legislation, a great evil in our times.
"3. The state shall be divided into thirty-two districts, to be ctlled senate
districts, each of which shall choose one senator.  Thie districts shall be numbered 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 supl)ervisors 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 aliens and
persons of color not taxed, and cotisistinz of convenient find contiguous
territory, and no assembly district shall be divided in the formation of
a senate district. The board of supervisors, when they shall have completed such division, shall cause certificates thereof, stating the number and
boundaries of each district and the population thereof, to be fil. d in thle office
of the secretary of state and of the clerk of the said city and county. D)istrict No. 7 shall consist,f the counties of Westelester, Putnam, and Rockland.  District No. 8 sh. ll 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,nklin.  District No. 16 shall consist
of the counties of Herkimer, Hamnilton, Fulton, and Montgomery.  l)istrict
No. 17 shall consist of the counties of Selohaliae a(id Delaware.  Distiict
No. 18 shall consist of the counties of Otsego nidt Ch, nango.  District No.
19 shall consist of the county of Oneida. District No. 20 shall consist of
224 
COUNTIES. - TOWNS.
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. District No. 29 shall consist of the counties of Ontario and Livingston. District No. 30 shall consist of the counties of Allegany and Wyoming. District
No. 31 shall 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 improvement-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 citizenship, 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 character of its own either good or bad, each is a circle full of attachments, 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 legislator has his family, his companions, his popular stand and standard; 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 similar 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 metropolitan police law, although desired by the four counties in question, with over one million of souls, and voted for by the assembly.
10*
225 
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 the 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 tantamount 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 numerically 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 fiftyfive, 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 enumeration, 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 entitled 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 ancient and modern times, have elicited the truth, that the number
of families, multiplied by five, give as exact a result as the
226
I 
FAMILY CENSUS.
counting of all the inhabitants, in consideration that the constant
changes caused by birth and mortality influence minutely the census.  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 census 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 adopted 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 of the 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, therefore, 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 introduce 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 will 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 cf 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."
227 
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.
This clause and the followingo 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 are
now entitled to more than one member of assembly, shall assemble on the
first Tuesday of January next, and divide their respective counties into assembly 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 numnber 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 mem,bers of assembly among the several counties of
this state, in manner aforesaid, and the boards of supervisors in such counties as may be entitled, under such re-apportionment, to more than one member, shall assemble at such time as the legislature making such re-apportionment 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 assembly, 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 the
population of the county of Hamilton shall, according to the ratio, be entitled to a member."
I am not called upon to make proposition for a new  constitution; 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 convened 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
228 
COMPENSATION.- DISQUALIFICATIONS.
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 purpose 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 improving. Suppose the honor to be a legislator of the most enlightened part of society - an American free state deserves this
praise without flattering-should be considered by the constitution so highly valuable that no pay would be adequate, and therefore none allowed by the constitution; this would shorten the
session still more, curtail superfluous buncomb Kansas speech-making and resolving on heterogeneous things, and oblige the legislators 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 governing. 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 governor 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.
229 
IMUNICIPAL 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
menicbers 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 immnediately 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 in 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 clau-e contains all the infor mation in the constitution about the local, legislative, and administrative 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 depending 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 require 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 constitution, 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
230 
TEMPERANCE LAWS.
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 townships 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 declared unconstitutional 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 excessive 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.
231 
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.
LETTER VI.
Executive. -Governoi's Duties. -Legislative  Committees.-Lieutenant  Governor. - Eligihility. - Commander-in-Chief. - Messages. -Salary.  Navv. - Armv. - 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 vears; a lieutenant-governor shall be chosen at the same time,
and for the same terru.
"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-govern,,r,
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 h'ving an equal and the highest number
of votes for governor, or lieutenant-governor.
"4. The governor sh,,ll 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 miilitary. He
shall expedite all such measures as may be resolved upon by the legislatiiure,
and shall take care that the laws are faithfully executed.   He shall, at staited
times, receive for his services a compensation to be established by law, whii-h
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 entirely mistaken by the governors themselves, and those who com
232 
GOVERNOR'S DUTIES.
plain that this constitution has stripped the governor of power to
stalh an extent as to discredit the office, because it manifestly
maikes, in 1,lain words, this officer, by enjoining upon  him  the
duty to take care that the laws are faithfully executed, the responsible head of the whole state administration. Accordingly, the
governor has the supreme control of all public offices, officers, ard
affairs, in the several political districts.  This is all the constitution 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 sul)bjects 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 contaiining,, at least, one paper firom each county, he will be posted
of every fact of importance, enabling him to transact the necessary controlling business. Any deviation from official duty, especially if' it should originate with the executives of counties and
towns (cities, villages), he is obliged to examine and resent, in
acccrdanee 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
tlhese 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 executive 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 unnecessarily 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
233 
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; hlie is, therefore, responsible for the good administra tion of the laws or woriking 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 correctness of this proviso, because, according to the federal constitution,
the president shall be the sole 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. 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 invasion and internal commotions; the federal constitution expressly
forbids the states to keep troops, that is, a standing army, or shipsof-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.
234 
MESSAGES.
The fact is, that this gubernatorial control is at present entirely
neglected; for I have never seen it working, while every attentive 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 geat show of executive power by declaring these citizens to be
in a state of rebellion, what appellation deserves such a government? 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 constitution when the governor does not check the defective execution
of the laws, but of the universally prevalent apathy and carelessness 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, spreading information and light over the finances and operations of the
administration, are important documents. They form an indispensable 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 reference to the measures to be acted upon, would be always, without
the least delay, and in preference of all others, promptly attended
235 
VETO POWER.
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 compensation which shall be fixed by law, and which shall not be increased or diminished during his continuance ii office.
"9 Everv bill which shall have passed the senate and assembly, shall, before 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, together 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 entered on the journal of each house respectively. If any bill shall not be returned 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 process, 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
237 
VETO POWER.
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 compensation which shall be fixed by law, and which shall not be increased or diminished during his continuance ili office.
"9 Everv bill which shall have passed the senate and assembly, shall, before 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, together 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 entered on the journal of each house respectively. If any bill shall not be returned 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 process, 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
237 
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 interferes 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 governors. The powers bestowed in this article upon the executive
require special laws to make them operative, to instill more activity 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 affairs 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 assembly), shall at stated times, during his continuance in office, receive for his
238 
ADMINISTRATIVE.
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 different meanings of the word administration; to avoid misunderstandings, I give you my idea about it. The real administrators of
our municipal affairs are only the chief of the state, called governor; the chief of the county, called, in my letters, overseer, and
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, according 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
thlink 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 administrations. 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 tatte;gn. 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 represented, managed, and attended to; in one word, to do all in
their power to keep the political organization in those districts in
239 
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.
a healthful operation. From such a view has been the national
pul)lic business placed under otie responsible head, the president.
I wish to be understood, that all I have said on the better organization of the municipal business, is but abstracted from that system which has been initiated by the federal constitution. If the
constitution of the state of New York is to be amended, this article, and one on the local officers, will, probably, receive a different 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 notthe 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 polivcy 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 understanding, while the universal elective policy, adopted by this
constitution, is a republican extravagancy.
The pqlitical offices may be divided into two classes, viz., representative and clerical. To the first class belong the just-mentioned 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, collectors, surveyors, police, &c., who should all be appointed. I
have pointed this out before, as the policy of the federal constitution.
After we have 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
240 
STATE ENGINEER.
appoint this or that party-man; still we must, for the time being,
stil)mit to that ratlier than spoil the whole fabric, by reversing the
n.itirlI,  order.  And  if each public district acts in this respect,
independentl-y, 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 slhall hold his office two years, but 110no person shall be elected to said offi(e who is not a practical engineer."
"3. Three canal commissioners shall be chosen at the general electiont
which shall    be held next aifter the adoption of this constitution, one of whom
silall 1old his ofli(e for one lyear, one for two years, and one  for three years.
['l'ec comnmissioneirs of the canal fund shall Tnmeet at the capitol on the first
Mond.ay of January, next after such election, and determine bv lot which of
said canal commissioners shall hold his office for one year, which  for two,
and which fo)r three years;] and there shall bh elected  annually thereafter,
one canal commissioner, who shlall 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,
shotild )e managd ly s)e('iil acts., and( not )by the people d(lirectly,
otlherwise they wrill )ecome political party concerns of the worst
kind.
"4.  Three inps)e('toIs of state-prison shall he elected at the general election, whlich slhall be held next aftei the adoption of this  constitution, one of
wliom shall hold hlis offic(e for one yeir, one for two years, and one for three
years.  [T'he governolro-, secretary of state, and comptroller shall mneet it the
callitol on  the first Alon.day of'Jiniiarv, next  suecediing soicli election, and
dleterminie h- lot whi(ch of said inspectors sliall hold his office  for one year,
whiclh for tw-o, al(I wii(ih for three  eais;] and(  there slall l)e elected  annually thleieafter one isetoe    r of stare-p iison, whio shall hold his office for three
years; said inspectors shall have the cliarffe and superintendence of the stateprisons, and  shall appoint all the officers thlerein.   All vacancies in the office 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,
com)troller, treasurer, and attorney-general, shall be the commissioners of the
canal futnd.
"The canal board shall consist of the commissioners of the canal fand,
the state elifgineer and( sr-vevor,.aid the canal commnissioners."
"6.'rThe )owers and duties of the respective boards, and of the several of
11
241 
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.
ficers in this article mentioned, shall be such as now are or hereafter may be
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, produee, manufacture or commodity whatever, are hereby
abolished, and no such office shall hereafter be created by law; but nothing
in this section contained shall abiog,ate any office created for the purpose of
protecting the public health or the interests of the state, in its property, revenue, 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 shlould, 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,
will be effectually checked by the judiciary.   Honest men are not
in need of them.   George Wasliington's brand was considered at
home  and  abroad  sufficient  guaranty in  regard( to quality and
quantity.   But if in a certain town  tlte corruption of the people
and remissness of the judiciary should be  alarming (wlich( can
only happen in over-large, uncontrollable towns or cities), the better 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, inmporters,
dealers in drugs, &c.  It would be as wrolng to appoint such localtrade inspectors by the state government, as it would be absulrd to
appoint judges of the court of aplpeals or state-prision  inspectors
by town governments.   Th-e corre(t distribution of the f'unctiorJal
affairs of society is a main duty of our law-makers.  Tlit(  must
follow their own logic  and judgment and not English precedents.
242 
JUDICIARY.
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 VIII.
Judiciary.-Impeaching.- Court of Appeals.   Supreme Court.-Judi  cial Districts. - Salary. -Election. - Testimony. - Removing. - Vacan  cies.- Modes of appointing Judges.
YOUIR 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 impeachments 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 lieutenant-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 concurretice of two thirds of the members present. Judgment in cases of impeachment 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 im,peached 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 selected from the class of justices of the supreme court having the shortest tire
to serve. Provision shall be made by law, for designating one of the number 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 supreme court having general jurisdiction in law and
equity."
The judiciary is, as I have observed  often, the very offspring
243 
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, especially 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 fnay 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 classified 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 classification, the term of their office shall be. eight vears."
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 possessed."
Is matter-of-course and superfluous.
"6. Provision may be made bv law for designating, from time to timne, 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
either 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 people, shall be void. They shall not exercise any power of appointment to
244 
SUPREME COURT.
public office. Any male citizen of the age of twenty-one years, 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.
" Io. 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 thile members elected to the assembly, and a majority of all the members 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 bv the senate, on the recommendation 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 vacanvcy 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 system. 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 ordaining that a judge who takes the stump, as the phrase is, at
elections, should be removed at once.   The honor and impartiality 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 them for a number of years, or during good behavior,
as it is called. The federal constitution has adopted the system
'' 4 5 
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.
of appointing the jtudgles durin, 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, bv unreasonable salary, fees, and
other means. In our states, with elective legislatures and executives, 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 hlie has no power beyond that of investigating certain cases coming under his cognizance.  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 and an elective one in the states.
LETTER IX.
County Judze. - 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.
THE following, clause contains useful prescriptions, which, however, 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 vears. 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 prescribl)e, but shall have no original civil jurisdiction, except in such special
cases.
"The county judge, with two justices of the peace, to be designated according to law, may hold courts of sessions with such criminal jurisdiction as
the legislature shall prescribe, and perform such other duties as may be required by law.
246 
LOCAL OFFICERS.
"The county judge shall receive an annual salary, to be fixed by the board
of sILp'rviSor, which slihll be ncitll(r irel-.e  e,1 nor diminished  during his
continualce in office.  The justice- of the peace, for servia-es in courts of
session<, shiall he paid a per diemn allowance out of the county treasury.
Inl counties having a population exceeding forty thousand, the legislature
may )rov-i(le for the election of a separate officer to perform the duties of the
offi(e of surrogate.
"The'lc legislature may confer equity jurisdiction in special cases upon the
county judge.
" Inferior local courts, of civil and criminal jurisdiction, manv be established
bv 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."
According,ly each county, New York county excepted, shall
have  but one j(udge.   Tihis is an  excellent idea, provided  this
county court is well organized, of whlich more in the following letter. In like mannler, miglit one justice of the peace, or town
judge, be sufficient for all town judi(ial business.   This seems to
be  answering to the idea of Daniel  Webster, that, to get good
juldges, we  should empl)loy 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, provide for the election of local offi('ers, not to exceed two in any county, to discharge 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."
Rathler 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 reg,ard to the judiciary especially, and should therefore derive their power from the constitution.
16. The legislature may reorganize the judicial districts at the first sessionI, after the return of every enumeration, under this constitution, in the
manner provnided for in the fo, rth section of this arti(cle, and at no other time;
and( they may, at such session, increase or diminiish the number of districts,
bhit such inc(rease or dimiiiiittion sha.ll not he mnore than one district at any
one time.  Each district shlaill haiv  four justices of the supreme court; but
no diminution of the districts shall have the effect to remove a judge from
office.
247 
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.
I do not believe that such districts for supremne courts are, in
deed, needed.
"17. The electors of the several towns shall, at their annual town meeting, and in such manner as the legislature may  direct, elect justices of the
peace, whose term of office shall be four ycars.  In case of an elm'ction to fill
a vacancy occurring before the expiration of a fill term, they shall hold for
the residue of the unexpired term.   Thleir number and (la-ssifi(cation may he
regulated by law.  Justices of the p(ea(ce and judges or ji.,ti(es of infirior
courts, not of record, and their clerks, lmaay be removc(d (afte (luec notice and
an opportunity of being heard in their defence) by such  county, city, or
state courts as may be prescribed by lawv,  or causes to be assigned in the
order of removal.
" 18. All jtidicial officers of cities and villages, and'll such jtudi('ial officers
as mnay be created therein by law, shall be elected at such tinies and in such
manner as the legislature may direct."
The justices of the peace are the cause of thle word "town" occurring in the constitution.   The justices of the f)(,ace should be
appointed with the greatest care, fob- thiey are in im)ortance second
to none.  The modern police courts seemn to supl)ersede them in
large cities.  The other particulars are special-law matters.
"19. The clerks of the several counties of this staIte sla.ll be (leiks of the
supreme court, with such powers and duties as shall be p)rescril)bed )by law.
A clerk for the court of appeals to be ex-officio clirk of the  suipreme ('ourt,
and to keep his office at the seat of aovernnment, shall be chosen  by the electors of the state; hlie shall hold his office for three years, and  his conipensation shall be fixed by law and 1)aidi out of the public treasury.
"20. No judicial officer, except justices of the peace, shall receive to his
own use any fees or perquisites of office."
Special-law matter.   All such things  vary  constantly.
" 21. The legislature may autlhorize the judg.,lme(its, de(crees, and decisions,
of any local inferior court of record of' origlnlal civil jnrisd(i(tion, establishled
in a city, to removed for a review directlv into the court of allpeals."
Special-law matter.  All pul)lie papers  b)elonging, to the state,
counties, towns, cities, and villag,es, whenever tliey 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 m-.y deem  expedient.  And  all
laws and judicial decisions shall be firee for p)ul)lication by ally pefrson."
Superfluous,  being a mattei —of-coui-se f,i(tt.
"23. Tribunals of conciliation may be established, with siuche  powers and
duties as miay be prescribed by law'; but su(h trilbunials shall have no power
to render judgment to be obligatory onl the parties, except tlhey voluntlarily
submit their matters in difference and agree to abide the judgment or assent
248 
CODE OF PROCEDURE.
thereto, in the presence of such tribunal, in such cases as shall be prescribed
bv lawv."
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 constitution, 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 influence. We want one containing all the rules invariably to be observed by the bench anti 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 jutidges talking
about the rules of the new term, to suit themselves. Of this trouble 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 concerned.   Apropos-the system of court-terms should be  abolishlled; 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 constitution, shall provide for the organization of the court of appeals, and for
transferring to 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 judginent 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*
249 
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 people, as in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Florida,
Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, 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 judiciary 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
1,,47 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 indispensable to the very being of this government. The constitution
without it would be no constitution; the government no government. 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.
250 
ENGLISH JUDrCIARY.
LETTER X.
RImarks on the Organization of the Judiciary in States, Counties, and T('wns
in genera-l. - English Jud(liciary. -  Bad Legislation. - Daniel O'Connell.
-Aula Regis. -  Reform t)v the Federal Constitution. - District, Circuit,
and Supreme Courts.-  IMunicipal Judicial Business, Civil or Criminal.  Its Dit-il)ution amoik- Towns, Counties, and States. -Abolition of the
present Sin,le Judicial Offices. - Reasons for it. -Webster. - Moses.  Solon.- Justinian. -  Napoleon I. - Frederitk II.  Joseph 11. -Russell.
- Tlionpsoni. - 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 withl the culture or moral and intellectual
progress of mankind.   Coloni(s generall: adopt. or rather maintain the laws and judicial forms of the mother-country.   This
has been the case in the United States. Still the simple form of
democratic governienjt required many important alterations in the
old complicated Einglish judicial system, which is a venerable relic
of the midd(le age, and at present rather a mere useless antiquarian. curiosity.  Its foil)l(s have often been exposed on both sides
of the Atlantic. The great lawyer, Daniel O'Connell, betrayed
a very p)oor idea of the English law when hlie 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 Eig,land: let us not be behind.
A close scrutiny of the present English system of bail, interpretation, and conviction, mostly Lased upon the testimony of witne-ses, must convince an unprejudiced mind that it is generally
eminently in favor of villany. I am as jealous of my personal
lil)berty as ally person can be, but feel very nervous if this jealousy. which every fireeman 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 owe it to this system that it
is unsafe to appear unarmed in public, just as if there was no state
251 
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.
institution at all.  There is still a difference in this reg,ard between
cities and country towns, btlt it grows less vely fast.
The political destiny of the United States was brought to a
bloody crisis by bad English legislation.  This  lesson lhas obviously 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 kin(gdom.  I-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 lie pleased. Soon dukes, barons, bishops,
etc., got slices of the royal jurisdiction; sub)stitutes (surrogates)
were appointed; and in consequence of the INagna Charta a stalile
royal court was established in Westminster Hall, called auila reyis,
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.  A,gain there happened  a sp)lit, so that the
people got seven courts of ex)chequer.   Followin,,g 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 firom 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
252 
NATIONAL JUDICIARY.
hliecrarchy.  You will recollect that the third article of the federal
constitutioI contains in a few concise words the dispositions about
the itatioinal judiciary.  Tile business is at present, if I am  not
mistaken, distributed among forty-eighlt 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 shIall be
despatchled, viz., by a court of appeals, eight supreme courts, supeirior courts, surrogates, county courts, justices of the peace,
city courts, coroners, police courts, oyer and terminer courts, marine courts, court of sessions, etc.  This machinery, according to
unnmistakable symptoms, has not worked well: and why is this?
beca use 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
Englishli customs.
Simply considering the usual judicial business as it is, we have
either civil or criminal cases, so that we want civil and  crimiial
courts. The civil cases are more or less important. A subdivision 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 perfectly 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 fbr each town.   In regard to claims, the amount generally serves as a measure, perhaps two hundred dollars. All
trials of reconciliation also natuirally 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 ju(!ges 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 couirt
will be required for appeals from the county courts, and the claims
against tile state, and on the constitutionality of laws, etc.  Some
cities will require more than one town court; still not more than
253 
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.
one couinty court.  Very large cities will receive exceptional attelition.  The diverse appointments should, as I have before intiniated, originate with the town, county, and state executives and
l1(,islative bodies; because they either have the care for the exetition of the laws or hold the pulse-strings in their hands.   Such
a   siml)le, logical distribution of the municipal judicial business
recommends itself to the general attention
First. In regaid to the responsibility of the town and county,
which, by their constitutional agents, appl)oint the judges.   They
being swo'n in to attend to the interests of the town or county,
will appreciate the importance of thie 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 aie amenable to law, and not to parties who control
the elections.
Second. In regard to the qzualjfications of the judges.  A candid(ate for a county or town judgeship knows  that hlie will occupy
the office as long as hlie fills it ably.  Ite will therefore thoroughlly
prepare himself for the benchl, not eveni shunning expensive outlays for this purpose.
Third. In regard to the business.  First it will be  managed
with ability talent, and  im)artiality; second, with honesty and
de(orum.   The proposed combination of the present dilap)idated
civil, criminal, and police business will keep  the judges in their
districts well employed, and therefore ripen and sharpen their
jud(gment in deciding causes.   Being, prohibited fiom  taking a
share in other employments, such a ju(dge will be lwholly a ju(dge,
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, prnidncitig confusion, scandalous feud(s among  tlhem  for
bu iliess, and a deplorable (lderadaitionii of this most  honortble
function.  A  g'ood 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
254 
WEBSTER-MOSES-SOLON-NAPOLEON.
good legislators and administrators of justice acquire lastingo 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 excellent organization of the judiciary.   By  similar acts of true
statesmanship before him, Frederick 11., 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.
Still, 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 tlhe strong arm of the executor in the other, thrones
upon our splendid piles and court-hlalls.  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, wlhere 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 punish. It is the bane of our system, that while the friendless criminals almost step from the stationhouse to the state-prison, others,
who have able counsel and friendly bail, may badger justice beyond 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 Judg,e Thompson, in Baltimore,
and of Mr. Brady, in memory of Justice Duer.
Ve 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
255 
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, germinating, sustaining principle, LAW, all our labor, skill, energy,
learning, and treasure, will l)e 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
1)chbt. - State  Stock  Loaned  to Incorporated  Comtpanies. -  Selling
Canals.
WE now come to the finances.
ARTICLE VII.
Finiance.
"1. After payinu  the expenses of collection, superintendence, and ordin,ry
rel airs there shall be appropriated and set apart in each fiscal year, out of the
revenues of the state canals, comnmencing 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 princil)al of that part of the state debt called the canal debt,
as it existed at 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 fi'om the
canals, an oblject 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 g,overnment, which, thus far, ceases to be government, anl
steps down into the arena of private lite.   If a governrtent si.n          s
fit to make  money by building canals, manufacturing  salt, siulu,
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.
256 
SINKING FUND.
Tli-at such special laws of a legislature should be observed
saL]credly by the legislature itself, is, indeed, very desirable, and a
miatter of co'rse.  But, what shall be done with this proviso and
the tollowiug, if the canals do not pay, a thing which happens at
I'sellt?
Tlhe federal government spends immense sums annually, has
pai(l up maniiy millions of debts, keeps an army and navy at an
exl)ensse of some twenty millions of dollars, and does this all in
vittie of two very short paragraphs, namely, clause 18, art. I,
s(c(t. viii., and clause 7, sect. ix. of the same article.  Some such
dislio itionst, inserted into this state constitution, would have answered all reasonable purposes. How shall the officers sacredly
m~aia'e this, fund if the canals bring no revenue?  They must
borrow, or violate thie constitution, of course.
2. After complying with the provisions of the first section of this article,
there shill 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,
1S4(t, the sum of three hundred and fifty thousand dollars, until the time
whe.n a suffi(cient sum shall have been appropriated and set apart, under the
said fiist section, to pay the interest and extinguish the entire principal of the
canal de)t; and after that period then the sum of one million and five hundred( thousand dollars in each fisca.l year, as a sinking fund, to pay the interest aiil redeem the principal of that part of the state debt called the general
fund del)t, including the debt for loans of the state credit to railroad cornmp:llies whlich hitve fAtiled to pay the interest thereon, and also the contingent
dclt 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    olnarge on the treasury or general fund, until the same shall be wholly paid
ali( the principal and income of the said last mentioned sinking fund shall be
sa,-!,edlv applied to the purpose aforesaid; and if the payment of any part of
the imonveys to the said sinking fund shall at any time be deferred, by reason
of the piioiitv recognized in the first section of this article, the sum so deferredl,  ith qtiate'ly interest thereon, at the then current rate, shall be paid to
the lIst-imentioned sinking fund, as soon as it can be done consistently with
the past ighits 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(le there shall be paid out of the surplus revenues of the canals to the treasuiry of the state, on or before the thirteenth day of September, in each year,
finr the use and benefit of the general fund, such sum, not exceeding two hundr.d 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 sutch manner as the legislature shall direct, to
257 
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.
the completion of the Erie canal enlargement, and the Genesee Valley and
Bl. (,k l-iver (.allals, until tile saidl (canlals sliall be ('onrli)leted.
It' att ainy time after tile period of eight yelrs from  the adoption of this
constilution, the revenues of the state unlali)propliated by this article, shall
not be sufficient to defray the necessary expenses of thle government, with out contilluing or laying a direct taxi the legislature  may, at its discre tion, supply the deficiency, in whole or in part, firom the surplus revenues of
the canals, after comnplying with the provisions of the first two sections of this
artic le, for payin_ the interest and extinguishiing the principal of the (canall
.nd genteral fund debt; but the sum thus appropriated from tihe surplus revelIItne of the canal shall not exceed annually 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 fIundl debt
shall be exti(gngished, or until the Erie canlal enlargement anll  Genesee
Valleyv anl Black River callals shall be completed, and  after that debt  slyall
be paid, or the said canals shall be completed, then the sum of six bundred
and seventy-two thousand five hundled dollars, or so mu(ch thereof as shlall
be necesslry, 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 tlhe principal of the stock of the state loaned or advanced
to snih company, shall be fairly enforced, and not released or -ompromised;
and the moneys arising flom su(.h claims shall be set apart and applied as
part of the sinkiu( fullnd provided in the second section of this article.  But
thle time limited for the fulfilment of any condition of any release or compromise heretofore made or provided for, may be extended by law."
Are officers in New  York state in the habl)it of tcting unfairly?
Thle policy of loaning public money or credit to private individuals is bad; it is still worse to put such a proviso in the constitu
tion.
"5. [f 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 salisfy 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 prese"ve
the public faith. Every contribution or advance to the canals, or their debt,
from any source, other than their direct revenues shall, with quarterly interest, at the rates then current, be repaid into the treasury, for tile 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 staid canal debts."
All special-law business.
"6. The legislature sh1ll not sell, lease, or otherwise dispose of cny of the
canals of the state; but they shall remain the propel'ty of the state and under
its management for ever."
2.58 
STATE CANALS.
This is, indeed, a bold, grasping, disposition, barring the action of
statesmen and people for all generations to come. There were railroads 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 fiom a peculiar party canal-policy,
patronage, and sundry items comprised by the word public corruption. The sooner they are sold the better. Canals have had
their time, especially when managed by governments.   In this respect 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 nowhere 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 government?
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.
259 
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 purpose of investing the moneys arising therefirom ill other lands alike convenient; 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
belo,ngs 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 appropniation, 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 contingent, singly or in the aggregate, shall not, at any time, exceed one million
of dollars and the moneys arising firom the loans creating suchl 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
260 
STATE DEBTS.
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, unless 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
su(h 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, and 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 proportion to the debt and liability which may have been contracted in pursuance of such law, shall remain in  force and be irrepealable, and be annually 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 bas to undertake besides what belongs to
the state establishment itself.   Most of the state burden. are borne
either by Congress or the towns and counties. Thle whole clause
261 
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
property, 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 entered 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, absolute 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 affairs of an American municipal state, as it ought to be, are exceedingly simple. And of the same character ought to be the constitution 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
262 
CORPORATIONS.
tury, without requiring the least alteration!  It is so good that we
cati still. a long,, a very loli, time, t)rofit l)y it.
IlaccIhiavelli advises his prince to imitate a great monarch.   In
making state constitutions we will do well to imitate our federal
constitution.   No better pattern exists in the world.
LETTER XIV.
Corporations. - General Law. - Banking Corporations. - Suspension of
P.lyment.-Registry  of Bills.- Paper  Money.-Insolvent Banks. Boards. - Conflict of State Lawr, and the Federal Conistitution, respe(ting
Btnks of Issue.-Paper and Metallic Money.-Credit Systern.-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 business purposes, endowed by law, with tile rights of a person.   A
single person may be sued and sue, but a company or partnership, as such, can not, unless it is incorporated, or made a political 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 tunder general laws; but shall not be
created by special act, except for municipal purposes, and in cases, where in
the.ji(luaflent of the legislature, the objects of the corporation can not be
attained under general laws.  All general laws and special acts passed pursu-int to this section, may be altered from time to time or repealed."
Tisi proviso is wise and good, although  little regarded  by the
l~,islaturle, when  fieoly chartering  all kinds of corporations not
belong,ing to the ex(cep)ted class, as for turning, pure milk, hospi
263 
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 al)out tiheir
organization, because such an organic law is, in fact, nothing but
a state, county, and town charter.  The expansion of industiial
enterprise, or, in other words, large business, requiring more
means than a single person usually commands, as the buil(ling of
cainals, railroads, etc., is the cause of this business form or formai,lity.  It can be perfectly well arranged, with the help of the
county courts or administration, where the business is locatedl, reservilng to the state government the supervision; for whliclh )urpose the general law on the subject should contain explicit provisions, the principal aim of which should be to prevent and check irresponsible monopolies and too great centralizations by consolidations, etc.  The cases mentioned in the proviso where the objects
of the corporation can not be attained under general laws, can be,
metluinks, 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 chlarters elsewhere.   If Rhode Islaniid may charter
such a company, why should not all our states have the same
right?  The restriction firom 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, general laws should prescribe for the guidance of the courts and all
in concern.  The constitution steered that way, but stopped betbfore
reaching its end.
"2. Dues from corplorations shall be secured by such indivi(ldual liability
of the corporators and other means as may be prescribed by l;w."
Here the text refers to a special law, to which, rather, the
whole clause belongs.
264 
BANKING CORPORATIONS.
"3. The term corporations, as used in this article, shall be construed to in elude all associations tand joiiit-stoclk coimpanies halving any of the powers or
privileges of corporations not possessed by individuals or partnerships. And
all corporations shall have the rit ht 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 tor 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 1no power to pass any law sanctioning in any
manner, directly or indirectly, the suspension of specie payments, by ally ptr son, association, or corporation, issuiing bank-notes of any description."
Perfectly rilght, 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 constitutional 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 denounced 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 confidlence, 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 tlhey would then have acted thus?
The managtement of our public money affaisis reminds one of a
farmner, who, hlaving a fine breadth of land, ordered his headman
to plant it with wheat.   This done, he sent another man out to
12
265 
IMUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.
sow it over with oats.  When the harvest arrived the wheat wGs
gone and the oats not worth anything, whereupon came the crisis
and bankruptcy of tlhe 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
vely inconsistently.   We  can not make one and the same business  coining money-at the same time national and municipal,
without producing confusion and mischief.  Banks, or no balnks,
make no difference.  If such a hermaphrodite monetary system is
righlit, 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 unprofitable affair, otherwise we milght have plenty of commodore navies,
with the help of ingenious interpretation.
"6. The legislature shall provide by lIw for the registry of all bills or
notes, issued or put in circulati,,n as money, and shall require ample security
for the redemption of the same in specie."
According to the opinion of Daniel Webster, our most distinguislied 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 Congriess alone has to provide a circulating mediumn.   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 Jainuary, 1850, slhall be individually responsible 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, contracted after the said first day of Jainuary, 1850."
This is plain and just enough, but does not belong to a constitution. 
"& 8 In case of the insolvency of any bank or banking association, the bill.
266 
BANKS IN GENERAL.
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 lundred million dollars in the United States), it is done on the sul)position 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, perhaps, 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
thloroughifares 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 twenty-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 circulation; 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 societv 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, "pa)y as you go," which
may be considered the true panacea of dull times, panics, and crises.
The well-known machinery of modern banks of issue, and of
the credit system, is, in the main, 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 fiom 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, m,lhi(h,
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.
267 
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.
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-mnoney," 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 artificially 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 importation, 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 impossible.  You know that the main source of the income of Congress
is, indirect, from customs. Now who has the power to derange commerce, has the power to cut off the customs and deplete the comnion treasury.  This explains why Congress borrows, at present,
in time of peace, millions for the support of the common government, 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 fiom 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 municipal.  The monetary affairs in regard to coin, standard, and circulation are national, not municipal, as you know from the federal
constitution, and no other than a national currency should circulate.
The financial events of 1857, nothing but revivals of prior
268 
CREDIT SYSTEM.
commercial revulsions tracing their origin to England, prove again
that the friamers of the federal constitution understood their task
and the true principles of political economy better than their successors, 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 counteract 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 progress 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 people 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 fundamental 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 state bank-paper money.
I wiite this without the least intention to reflect upon the private
business of banking.  The fault is not with the banks and bankers, but the politicians, desiring to be teachers of the law, "understanding neither what they say nor whereof they affirm."
269 
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.
LETTER XV.
Cities.- Villages.- History.-  Superceded by a Judicious Organization of
Towns and Counties. -  Saving of Taxes.
LFT US read on.
"9. It shall be the duty of the legislature to provide for the organization
of cities and incorporated villages, and to r(estrict their power of taxation, assessment, borrowing money, contracting debts, and loaning their credit, so as
to prevent abuses in assessments and in contracting debt by suchl municipal
corporations."
Behind those eight sections on banks, you find this short proviso concerning the organization of cities and villages -mere anomalies-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 whlich the public business mostly is performed.
Mlutual protection and chance of business induced men, in ancient times, to crowd together in favorable localities.  Business is
still the mother of cities and villages, but civilization does not require it more for protection.  We  have no more roving and robbing tribes and barons, thle cause which induced people and government to crowd in cities togethler and make them secure by fortifications.  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. Civilization 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.
270 
CONSOLIDATION.
When influential speculators and their newspapers insist upon
the consolidation of cities, as, Boston, and Charlestown, and Roxbiuy; or New York and Brooklyn; or Troy and Lansingl)ulrgl;
and a(:lieve them, as in the case of PBrookly'n 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 artificially, the difficulty of ruling it.
This clause has not exercised any good influence upon the administration of the cities.  They are all in difficulties in regard to
finances, safety, and order.  Thle defective administration of New
Yoik city requires sixteen millions of dollars, all told, while the
expenses of the wsell-governed kingdom of Saxony amounts to only
seven millions.  But this state of thiings prevails not alone in New
York. Providence, in Rlhode Island, with forty thousand inlhabitants, 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 twAo years the excess of expenditures over tax assessed is
$518,000. It is obvious, then, that the reform of such evils must
begin w-ithl the business tiand business districts.  The axiom of one
of the best statesman of our age, Jefferson, viz., "that government is the best whiclh governs least,"' is only applicable to a society whose business districts are of the right size.  As those overgrow, the government's business, expenses, taxes, debts, and difficulties will increase proportionately, notwithstanding all constitutions and axioms of the best men to the contrary.  Still this clause
is laudable because it has been dictated by a sense of economy.
Tile current )ipractice, however, differs from it.
People therefore, when called upon to vote upon consolidations
of towns or cities, wNhichl are not decreasing in population, should
invariably vote against it.
271 
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 constitution. But let us see.
ARTICLE IX.
F.dzucation.
"1. The capital of the common school fund, the capital of the literaturo
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 sumi 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  violated by the legislature, as I remark again, and are to be maaaged accordingly.   Is it sound doctrine to have such funds in our
country?  The schooling or instruction of the young is not a political, but a simple domestic family affair, either taken care of by
nurses, mothers, fathers, guardians, or by others engaged or appointed 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 lb)y
town resolves, by-laws, customs, etc.  Church organizations often
helped, also, to foster schools, but the state institution proper had
nothling to do with it.  Thus  the money  for schooling went  directly from the pockets of the parents into those of the teachers.
272 
COMMON SCHOOLS.
Such schools were called commune or common, or town or public
schlools. These schools can be made very good, without the least
interference of the legislature, provided that there are well-organized towns.  Of course, the money  constituting these funds
comes from the people, where, if left, it would produce hundredfold interest; while, as permanent funds in the hands of state officials, 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, literature, arts, etc., if connected with the state, must partake of the
predominant political character of the party in power. In a monarchy, 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, therefore 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
(hool 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 notattending any school at
12*
273 
DMUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.
all, and of those in the 18th ward alone 2,631, among them 1,340
born Americans.   For these children cl-haritable ladies have establilshed schools. The same happens in all townls. The present artificial, expensive system does not work better than the cheap,
natural managaement 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  arrived at the goal, how to dispose of their earthly treasure.  As
charity helps the poor children, so would wealthy men, if not interfered with by the state, help the schlools in general.  The liberal acts. of Girard, Peabodcly, Cooper, and so many others, are
proofs of what I am going to say. Also, in this regard, emulation and competition are powerfully at work.  Education is the
work of ftmilies.  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 system; a fact which at once excludes the idea of a popular education-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, withbthc very old and good right of towns or
274 
POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY.
communes, to make the needful arrangements for the instruction
of clilidren as they please.  It is repugnani t to the princip)le of
self-gov(i'nment. that a government in fiee societv slhould le l)onlid
to )ro-vid(le funds for common town-schlools, or make laws for their
orgai,1ization, school-books, etc.  If the teachers  nd fi'eemen in
the towns aide not able to do this withlout state iinterference. the
sooner the republican form of government is al)andoned the better.  Saays a teacher of one of the public schools in New York,
lIr. Stewart, in a public meeting of teachers:  " Our present
scliool-svstem was admirable at the time it started, but it is now
the conrtrary.  It was based on a paulper system of education (instruction), which is not in any way adapted to thie present day.
Ottr preseint.School-system is miserably detrimenztal in its effects
upon t(ie meiital, moral, and physical qual?fications of the youth
of oer city.  Now, at the present timne, the school system costs
the peop)le of New York considerably over 81,0()00,000 annually,
and it is liklely, before long, to cost $l,500,000, or even more."
These results are the firuits of state-meddling w-ith town (city,
village) business.
Being engaged in discussing political cant-phrases, I add here
a few words on that of "popular sovereignty" or "squatter sovereig,ntv," 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 implies dioect legislation by the people, as in the beginning of MIaryland 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.
Tile act of voting or electing is not a result of sovereignty, but of
organized civil liberty. There is no nation in the world, the Russians 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 born or elected; the first happens in monarchies, the
latter in republics; but in constitutional monarchies, also, the
27,5 
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.
legislatures are, for the most part, elected, and that all those officers who execute the laws of the state and act in its name, as
judges, clerks, milita'y, 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.
Loca.l Offlcers. - Sheriffs' Clerks. - County, City, Town, and Village Offi cers. - Their Election. -  Vacancies. - Political  Year.- Removal.  Vacant Offices. -Metropolitan Police Law.
THIE following article, akin of the seventh, seems to contradict,
in some measure, what I have said before about the little care bestowed upon the organization of countics and towns by the constitution; but let us see.
ARTICLE X.
Local Officers.
"1. Sheriffs, clerks of counties, including the register and clerk of the
city and county of New York, coroners and district attorneys, shall be chosen
by 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 years 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
276 
LOCAL OFFICERS.
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 appointers 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 committees, and, of course, the more bargains will occur. This invariably 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 political machinery simplified, and the pernicious influence of parties checked.   We can not be without parties, but should not purposely educate bad parties. This +X-e do by the present elective
system.
It seems to be against justice to exempt the counties from responsibily for the acts of their officials. Who else shall be responsible?   The  subalterns or clerks should be amenable or responsible to those who appoint them.   The  shleriff should be responsible to the county overseer and supervisors, who should appoint 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 hoards 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
bv 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 organization and government of counties and towns (cities and villages), and gives them the appointment of the subaltern  eies,
277 
IMUNICIPAL GOVERNtMENT.
all will be clear, and such disputes as that about the ri,lght of the
i(i.lslature to establish a new state police-district for four counties
(.;tn not lhalpen. The police business i:. and ever will be local,
ant(l of course, belonging, to towns.   No state, no county, ever ctn
be in need of a policeman or constable if there are towns  organize(l (cities and  villages).   If a constitution  ordains  that  the
towrns (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 competent courts, interpreted in this manner, they are positively not
to be depended on.
The constitution ordains that there shall be a court of appeals.
IVell, if now a legislature, in favor of two or a dozen such courts,
should create them, because the constitution did not expressly forbid the establishling, of more  than one, all would at once cry out
that this was a wicked  quibble-a false interpretationi; still the
metropolitan police law rests upon no better ground.   It is a bold
encroachment upon this proviso.   Washington utters pithly words
on such acts in his Farewell Address.
"3. When the duration of any office is not provided by this constitution,
it may he declared bhy Isw, and if not so declared, such office shall be held
during the pleasure of the authority miaking the appointment.
"4. The time of electing all officers named in this article shall be prescribed 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 1hol( his office
by viritue of such appoijntment longer than the commencement of the political year next succeeding the first annual election after the happening of the
V'l, (';I!1(7%  "6. The political year and legislative term shall begin on the first day of
Jainu.ar-, and the legislature shall assemble on the first Tuesday in January,
unless a dlitcrent day may be appointed by  twl.v.
"7. Provision shall be made bv law for the removal for misconduct or
malversation in office of all officers (except judicial) whose powers alud duties
are not local and legislative, and who shall be elected at g(eneral elections,
and also for suppllying vacancies created by such renmovals.
"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 constitution."
2'1'8 
MILITIA.
All these provisoes do not deserve exactly a place in a constitution.  It may suit a later legislature better to begin the political year a couple of weeks before the session, in order to get the
message and reports complete in season.
All tlhese details are objects of special legislation or routine.
The head of this article should have taught caution and d(liscretion 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 judiciary in a republic.
LETTER XVIII.
Militia.- Religious Denominations. - Higher Law.- Appointment of offi     cers. -i Major-Generals.- Commissary-Gcneral.- Commission.
THE god Alars rules not only in Europe supremely, but also
in the state of New York.
ARTICLE XI.
Jl[liia.
"1. The militia of this state shall at all times hereafter, be armed and disciplined, and in readiness for service; but all such inhal)itants of this state,
of any religious denomination whlatever, as firom scruples of conscience may
be averse to bearing arms, shall be excused therefrom, upon such condition
as may be prescribed bv 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 constitutional proviso, that the militia of the state of New York shall be organized 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 appi-oval, which
is entirely wrong.
"2. Militia officers shall be chosen or appointed as follows: captains, subalterns, and non-commissioned officers shall be chosen by the written votes of
279 
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.
members of their respective companies. Field officers of regiments and separate battalions, bv the written votes of the commissionied officers of the respective regiments and separate battalions; brigadier-generals and b)rigadier-inspectors by the field officers of their respective brigad(les; m.ajor-generals,
brigadier-generals, and commanding officers of regiments or separate battalions, shall appoint the staff officers to their respective divisions, brigades, regiments, or separate battalions."
From time to time different modes of appointment may be required. But - I ask - why not entrust the election of field officers 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 itis at present organized, a much more important and responsible officer, than a
hartmless, however martial, major of the militia?
"3. The governior shall nominate, and with the consent of the senate, appoint all major-generals, and the commiissary-general.  The adjutant-general
and other chiefs of staff departments; and the aides-de-camp of the commander-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 faithful 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 governor 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  tl(erefore
presumptively elect their drill-masters and commanders juldiciously enough, and better at present than at the revolutionary war,
when Washington complained that they did not always elect gentlemen.  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 legislation?
"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
280 
OATHS.
governor; and no commissioned officer shall be removed from office, unless
bv 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,
ptirsuant to law.  The present officers of the militia shall hold their commissions 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.   MIuch 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 mav abolish the same and provide by law for their appointment
and removal, if tw, thirds of the members present in each house shall concur therein."
This proves that the whole article is superfluous.   But it is significant in regard to principles.
LETTEFR XIX.
Oaths. - Test. - Abuse  of Oaths. - Literal Interpretation. - Scandal  in
Courts.
WE  come now to some formalities.
ARTICLE XII.
Oaths.
"MAtembers of the legislature, and all officers, executive and judicial, except such inferior officers as may be by law exempted, shall, before they enter
on tlle 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 qualification for any office or public trust."
This is in conformity with the federal constitution, and very
w(ll that the state officials shall be bound to support this constitution; but I think the improvement elsewhere proposed upon the
prte-amble  of  this  constilution, will, notwithstanding, find favor
withl  the people at large; because it places  the  intimate  connection between the states created by the federal constitution in the
281 
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.
true light.  We all love our homes and their constitutional rights
and order, but appreciate not less on this account our confederation 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 institution.   Before the  word "test" should be found
the word " religious."  That "no religious test shall ever be required 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 infllience upon the peculiar custom of the  English law,  llwhichll
requires a special oath in almost all transactionsObefore tile court.
Thle 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 periury.   We should have been induced by this l)recedent of the federal constitution to reform this universalliv-condemned 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-evident.  A  court sits to elicit the truth in a civil or criminal case,
in the name of the state.  Whaitever the parties called in co!rt
affirm or deny, is affirmed or denied before the government represented 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 firom a plaintiff an oath about his
libel, and one from the defendant about his answer, etc., presupposes 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 lie commit a falsehood,
he acts as criminally as if hlie had acted upon oath; l)ecause, by
doing so, he violates the truth, the authlority 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.
282 
LAW INTERPRETATION.
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 Washing,,ton, on the first Monday of DIecember,
and it should happen that the capitol was destroyed by fire before
this time, then, according to the literal interpretation in vogute,
Congress could not meet at all, there being no capitol; but according to rational interpretation, the meeting of Congress would
be considered as'the principal object, the house or place of assemblag,e as secondary, and  therefore no obstruction happen, provided a place of meeting was anywhere left for Congress. Another 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 Wisconsin, as has been stated, were, in 1856, detained by a violent snowstorm, 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 understanding 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 certify at the place of meeting, to make the casting of their votes
one or two days 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 tile reverse result might have taklen place.  Suppose  the
snow-storm should have visited Pennsylvania, then MIr. 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 prolific 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 advertisers and publishers of scandalous, immoral reports, which, to cir
283 
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 influence upon the promotion of morals, and even good taste in
general; more, perhaps, than science and art combined.
LETTER XX.
Amiendments. - Miscellaneous.- Election Results in Regard 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 maiority
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 election 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 all the members elected to each house, then it shall be the duty of the legislature 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 majority of the electors qualified to vote for members of legislature, voting thereon, 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?' 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 convention for such purpose, the legislature at its next session, shall provide by
law for the election of delegates to such convention."
284 
MISCELLANEOUS.
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 immigration, in a very short time.   Hence the urgent necessity of
amending it.
ARTICLE XIV.
Mliscellaneous.
"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 thlirty-first day of December following and no
longer.
"2. The first election of governor and lieutenant-governor under this constitution, shall be held on the Tuesday succeeding the first Monday of November, 1848; and the governor and lieutenant-governor in office when  this
constitution shall take effect, shall hold their respective offices until and including 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 respective 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 term 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 proceedings 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 pending in courts of common pleas aid in suits originally commenced injustices'
courts shall be transferred to the county courts provided for in this constitution, in such manner and form, and under such regulation as shall be provided by law. The courts of oyer and terminer hereby established, shall, in
their respective counties, have jurisdiction, on and after the day last mentioned, of all indictments and proceedings then pending in the present courts
of oyer and terminer; and also of all indictments and proceedings then leuding in the present courts of general sessions of the peace, except ill tilhe (-ity
of New York, and except in cases of which the courts of sessions ihereby
285 
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.
established may lawfully take cognisance; and of such indictments and proceedings 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 services 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
lheard 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 governor may nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the senate,
appoint a proper person to fill such vacancy.   Any ju,ge of the court of appeals or justice of the supreme court, elected under this constitution, may receive and hold such appointment.
"8. The offices of chancellor, justice of the existing supreme court, circuit
judge, vice-chancellor, assistant vice-chancello,, judge of the existing county
courts of each county, supreme court commissioner, master in chancery, examiner 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 circuit 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 utntil the expiration of the term for which they were respectively elected.
" 11. Judicial officers in office when this constitution shall takle 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 superior 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 firom and including the first day of
January, 1847, except as is herein otherwise provided."
286 
NEW YORK ELECTION.
Clause eight contains valuable reforms, but the judiciary of
this state is still in need of more. It is desirable to avoid sweepiniig clhan,es in our states, and I do not propose one.   The adaptation of the districts to the business is an easy thiing, and the most
important part of the activity of our municipal legislatures.  If
we priune the towns and counties and plant out new ones at the
riglit season, they will remain healthy and vigorous, and never rot,
or become the seat of corruption.  Am I then not right, when I
s<y+, that not exactly man, but the wrong, careless, political distriicting of our society is the cause of our troubles, and want of
pttblic virtue?  The  prevalent idea that a republic is a land
where rogues have fair play, must be destroyed by a good administration 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 chlanges of United States dynasties. With a few modifications, or modulations perhaps, the same
issues will be again started in 1860. Parties are, by our exceedin,gly liberal federal constitution, narrowed  down to a very few
platform topics for the feuds about the offices or spoils.   This
forice, 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 telegraphls and steam-engines, they promote, simultaneously, a most
variegated general iiivesti,gation of important princilp)les, and,
having more or less reference to the Union, quicken the instinct
of patriotism, whlichi so easily dies away in the common business
routine of every day life. One of the foremost issues in the canvass of 1856, was the principle of firee migration to new territories.  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
riglit to forbid the bound-labor migration to new territories (free
soil); the latter sided with the present practice of Congress, sanetioned by the Kansas and Nebraska act, mentioned by me before,
287 
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.
namely, that Congress has no power to exclude this kind of migration, 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 formn 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 expressly sanctioning bound labor, where firee labor is practicable.
Free labor being the rule, all unsettled territories, and all slave
states, are open to unlimited immigration from all states, and, according 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 laborors, 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 thle 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 Missouri 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 fiee migration,
which is so highly advantageous for those public and diverse private interests.
The vox populi, as Franklin says, never can be the vox dei,
288 
PRISONS.
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 further investigations and more thorough inquiries into the art of
realizing justice, especially at the present time, when soon a popular 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 restraint of criminal unruly men. It is one o the uncomfortable
qualities of republics, that they are rather favorable to the development 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 deposites, especially in large places where people are fond of congregating, 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, popular festivals, following an old maxim of mothers who, when teased
by mischievous children, try to divert their mind by play or pleasant occupation, well knowing that this is a better method of correcting 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 advantage 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
289 
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.
penal-colonies in Singc Sing and Auburn, we should establish agricultural and industrial penal colonies on our great western plains,
on the grazing grounds of the buffaloes. in the Rocky mountains,
oni the Miexican friontiers, for the. alarmingly-increasing great number 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 firom 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.?  Shall then the most noble art of
politics, which has to cure lawlessness, dishonesty, aud crime, remain 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 antiquated 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. Circumstances make the man; alter these and you will alter him, for
the worse or better.
290 
POLICE.
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'iding 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.
Ourstate 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
291 
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 common 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,
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44 
ABOLITIONISTS.
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 itinerant 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 lihe
can become so by his own exertion. But compare with him the
slave of crime-the convict. He is brought up in liberty; perhaps the spoiled son of wealth, and, if the child of poverty and
vice, has tasted the sweets of freedom, although perhaps consisting 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 associate 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-surrounded 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 radically 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  havre  made
Australia inhabitable. How much of our far west has been cul tivated by outcasts is difficult to prove, but easily imagined. Our
293
4 
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 Judi(ciary. -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 explorations as complete and instructive as possible, I beg your attention a little longer for a few stray remarks on large cities.
These are not only the hiding places of rogues, but also the centres 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
Inion!  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
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BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.
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
MIarylanders were permitted to make their own laws, and. b)ein, all freemen of the -same stamp, religion, competency. and aspirations, 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 sovereigns, caused nothing but trouble, lasted only a very short time.
As early as 1 639, 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 discord, until the Revolution made an end of it, and was followed by
the constitution of 1776, X hich ordained in the main:  That the legislature shall consist of a senate and house of delegates, under the name of General Assembly of MIaryland, meeting 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 chosen
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, attorneygeneral, officers in the regular land and sea service, officers of the
militia, registers of land office, surveyors, and all other civil officers, (assessors, ccnstables-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
2 9.i 
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 servitude could be abolished by the stroke of the pen, without the previous consent of both masters and slaves. Has the law more influence 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 resided twelve months within the state and six months in the county.
In 1837, the article of the constitution was abolished which prohibited 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 ahd for compensation. This shows the effect of a
political opposition to this domestic affair.
In 1851, the present constitution was established, and the principal 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 districts, from one of which he is to be elected every four years.
This is a peculiar feature, not occurring in any one of the several 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 misplacement 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 congressional papers, authority, and protection. When they arrive at quaran
296 
COUNTRY VERSUS CITY.
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 democratic form of government can not alter human nature. Business
interests will separate the cities still from the country, and produce 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, covering an area of 1292 square miles, with a circumference of 74miles, and more than 400,000 inhabitants is for all practical purposes also a state. Brooklyn, with Long Island, is ripe for state
organization.  Baltimore, and other great marts must follow in tile
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 Cincinnati, etc. I can not forego here the remark that time and mutual 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 governments. It is a law of nature, and not a mere axiom, 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, tnd their statesmen, to come at the
rilght time to an understanding about that which is "overgrown,"
tine, they alter not their character, especially not when the quarantine should
he 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 regard to foreign vessels, those know nothing at all about ocean state laws and
government. Congress can enforce by soldiers and vessels of war quarantine laws, but not the state or a city, because both have no such forces.
13*
297 
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.
and act accordingly. A certain symptom of this politicai 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 organized as a state.  Nothing short of that will cure that incubuslike 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 laige 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 citizens in Baltimore in MIay, 1858, FOR the amending of the constitution of 1851, with an elective judiciary, and that of the country people AGAINST it.
You may think that a dividing of those large cities into separate municipalities, or independent business districts, would better
answer for a local 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 apolitical 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 Baltimore, still every one of them (even in puritan New England),
containing upward of forty thousand inhabitants, is sufferinig from
public corruption, debts, high taxes, etc., as I mentioned before.
It should then be obvious to every person, that in the riight
proportion of population, state (county, town), size and business
298 
DIVISION OF STATES.
is the arcanum of good government, especially in republics. Being 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 purposes. 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 districts 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 offic(e 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 burdened, 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 Englishcircumlocution. 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 little 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
299 
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.
peoples' ships in the Gulf of Mexico or elsewhere. Their seamen 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 picture 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 precepts 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 influence our actions and mould our destiny.  To facilitate the memory 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 content and happiness, and the vices, of disappointment a'hd misery
in individuals and states. This is our inexorable fate. Good
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MORAL FORCES.
and bad deeds are recorded in the book of time with indelible
ink. From the judgment of conscience there is no appeal, no
pardon. T           he remorse of a bad deed remains for ever.  Read
then:
MORAL FORCES.
VIRTUES.                                  VICES.
Justice,                                Injustice.
Self-control, Attention.                 Carelessness, Recklessness.
Honesty.                                 Faithlessness, Dishonesty.
Veracity, Truth.                        Falsehood,   Calumny,   Intrigue,
Slander, Hypocrisy.
Prudence, Politeness.                    Imnprudence, Inurbanity.
Piety, Charity.                         Profanity, Inhumanity, Avarice.
Modesty, Simplicity.                    Impudence, Extravagance.
Economy.                                Prodigality.
Patiet,ce.                              Passion.
Sobriety.                               Intemperance.
Pudicity.                               Lewdness, Free Love.
Industry.                               Laziness, Loaferism.
Conscientiousness.                      Treachery, Perfidy.
Fortitude, Glory, Patriotism.            Cowardice, Bombast, Treason.
Righteousness.                           Villany, Corruption.
Love.                                    Hatred, Vengeance.
Humanity.                                Cruelty, Barbarism.
EFFECT.
Order, Peace, Happiness.             I Anarchy, War, Misery.
This is life's material. Justice crowns the column of virtues.
The just man combines within himself all virtues. He, according 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 government 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 convince those who take a sincere interest in our public affairs, that
in our time the good management of the municipal affairs is infinitely more important for the true welfare of society than diplomacy, 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 [state]
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 ungodly 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 persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound docttine."
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MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.
Reform of public corruption must begin near home. Great
events are ripening before our doors. MIexico 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, broadcast over the land. I have tried in this book to show how the
latter may be prevented, that this institution may not be furthermore abused anywhere for fraud, peculation, and corrupting contrivances 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.   Sapieizti sat.
Contribute, then, your mite to the honor of our great and beautiful country. ADIEU.
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