speech and of publication. In England, discourses or publications tending to interference with the established order of things, have been denominated seditious, and subjected to punishment, and thus Muir was transported for lending a copy of the Rights of Man. Tooke, Thelwall, and others, were charged with sedition, and narrowly escaped punishment for advocating changes such as have since taken place with consent of king, lords, and commons. Cobbett was punished by a heavy fine and a long imprisonment for his remarks in relation to the punishment of some militia men. Were it possible for the planters to obtain the passage of laws limiting the right of discussion, there would be neither mobs nor Lynch law.

In England the right of selecting men who shall represent fairly the views of the people is fully recognised by law, yet it has no practical existence. The dependence of the voters. upon the higher orders is, in numerous cases, so great, that they are compelled to vote as they are directed, or are liable to be deprived of the means of support. They are not even permitted to vote by ballot, and thus the employer has always the means of ascertaining if his men vote as they are ordered. The right thus to dictate to them has been, on repeated occasions, asserted in the strongest terms, but its existence is totally inconsistent with security to the voter.

In the United States the attempt at this species of dictation has always failed. The voters are sufficiently independent to render it impossible to compel them, by any threats, to act in opposition to their inclinations, and the use of the ballot renders it impossible to ascertain on what side an individual has voted, if he desire to conceal it. There is, however, no concealment affected, and the employer may, and often does find that the majority of those in his employment give their suffrages in direct opposition to his wishes. To attempt to punish them for so doing would be absurd, where the parties discharged could have immediate employment elsewhere, as is generally the case.

In nothing is the difference between England and the United States greater than in the conduct of elections. In the latter they are generally conducted with an order that is remarkable.* It is true that some cases have occurred in which they have

"Nearly 36,000 electors have exercised their rights without tumult, although

been attended by riots and tumult* but they are very rare; whereas, in England, they are of frequent occurrence.t

We have already shown the condition of the labouring classes in France, at the close of the fifteenth century. They were then held to be "taillable et corvéeable a merci et a misericorde"-to be, in fact, the hewers of wood and drawers of water for their masters. Slavery continued in many of the provinces until the revolution. The slaves were attached to the soil, and if they escaped from it were restored by the interference of the tribunals to their owners, to whom their persons and those of their posterity belonged. They were incapable of transmitting property, and the proprietors "had forced the reluctant tribunals of the king to deliver into their hands the property of deceased citizens who had been long settled as respectable inhabitants in different towns of France, some even in Paris itself; but who were proved to have been originally serfs on the estates of the claimants.

both parties were greatly excited. The merit of this conduct belongs to the whole population. The municipal authorities had, it is true, taken extraordinary measures for the preservation of the public peace, but that which is extraordinary here, is far removed from that which would, in Europe, scarcely be deemed ordinary precaution. If, in the United States, the people abstain from disorder, it is because they are so disposed. If they preserve order, it is because they love it. Three hundred constables, more or less, in a city of 260,000 people, could ac complish little towards it."-Chevalier, t. I. p. 275.

* A few weeks previously to the election in New York, above referred to by M. Chevalier, a riot had taken place at the election held in Philadelphia, which resulted in the destruction of several houses by fire.

"The losing party, then, finding their case hopeless, began a scene of intimidation and violence that beggared description. Electors were dragged out of their houses, people flocked into the town, and at half past three there were at least 20,000 persons around the booths, and assailing different dwellings."-Huddersfield Election, 1837. Examiner, p. 502.

"A serious riot arose out of the proceedings at this election. Ten individuals were carried away from the neighbourhood of the polling booths, shockingly mutilated. One unfortunate man has since died."-Salford Election, 1837. Ibid. P. 488.

“From half past twelve, when Sir George Murray and his friends came on the hustings, till half past two, there was an almost incessant shower of missiles from the crowd, directed against the candidates of whom they disapproved."Westminster Election, 1837. Ibid.

"An attempt was made by two ruffians, near the workhouse, to assassinate Mr. Edward Ellice; and the proceedings at Huddersfield, where Lord Morpeth and Sir G. Strickland addressed the electors of the North Riding, baffle all description. We regret to learn that Lord Morpeth was much injured by a stone.”Examiner, 1837, p. 487. + Part I. p. 61.

In an edict issued by Louis XVI., he declares that this state of slavery exists in several of his provinces, and laments that he does not possess the means of ransoming those who are subject to it.*

That the change should have been so slow when compared with that of England can be attributed only to the unceasing wars, domestic and foreign, in which the nation was engaged, the effects of which still remain.

The traveller through England sees the country dotted over with farm houses and cottages, as is the case in the United States; but crossing the channel and entering France, he is immediately struck with the difference in the landscape. Instead of neat cottages, each with its little piece of land, he sees here and there a village, and finds that is the residence of all the cultivators of the surrounding country. Living here, they are compelled to walk daily one, or two, or three miles to their patches of land, and with a view to save expense and trouble of transportation, they occupy that which is nearest, whether fitted or not, for raising their heavy crops, while those of a lighter kind are reserved for the more distant land. A slight knowledge of history, with a little reflection, will satisfy him that this is the result of the insecurity that has prevailed in that country, as well as in most countries of Europe. Exposed at all times to the violence of contending factions; robbed alternately by the soldiers of Valois and of the League; by the Catholic and the Hugonot; the labourer could look for protection only to union with his neighbours, and decmed a residence in a dirty village, with security, preferable to purer air, with the daily risk of being robbed, and perhaps murdered. The injurious effect of this is thus described by Mr. Jacob

"The residences of the peasants are generally near together, in villages so distant from the extremities of the parish, as to make those extremities very expensive to cultivate. The barns and other buildings are near them; these are, upon a scale regulated by the nature of the climate, much more expensive to construct than in our own, more agreeable, country. At present the lands, divided to each occupier in scattered fragments over the whole common fields, receive crops according to their vicinity to the village, and that part appropriated to wheat, which is manured, is generally near to it. If those * Jones on the Distribution of Wealth, p. 89.

VOL. II.-6.

lands were parcelled out in separate farms, some allotments must be at a great distance from the village. The shares in such situations might be and in justice should be, comparatively large. The expense of carrying manure, and of bringing the produce to them, would make the houses and erections in the villages, nuisances and incumbrances on the land, rather than beneficial property."

A state of civil warfare almost constantly existing, and the assumption by the king of absolute power over the persons of his subjects, were well calculated to prevent the existence of a feeling of security. To those who desired to limit the exercise of that power, whether judges or ministers, the reply came in the form of an order for their banishment. To those who became obnoxious to the sovereign, to his mistresses, or to their friends, punishment was administered in the form of a lettre-decachet, by virtue of which they might be shut up for life without the form of trial. Under the monarchy, security of person was not understood.

The revolution regarded the claims of neither sex nor age. The best and the worst-the rich and the poor-the youthful and the aged-were in turn consigned to the guillotine. The despotism of Napoleon was not restrained by regard to individual rights. To maintain armies for the purpose of carrying war into Spain, and Germany, and Russia, he compelled every young man to enter the service, and to abandon his parents for a long series of years, and perhaps for ever. The various governments that have succeeded have all followed his example, and have shown that they do not understand in what consist the rights of person.

They still compel men to enter the service, naval and military, for the purpose of carrying on war in Spain or in Africa, as may suit the pleasure of the sovereign, and thus assess the same amount of taxes, in the form of personal service, upon the man of large fortune who can with ease procure a substitute, and upon the labourer who has parents and sisters dependent upon him for their support.

From 1804 to 1814, a period of eleven years, the levies amounted to 2,965,000 men, or an average of nearly 270,000 men. Of these, it is stated, that only 300,000 remained to be disbanded in 1815.

The number of males who, at the present time, annually arrive at the age of manhood, is about 200,000, and is of course

• Second Report, p. 144.

considerably greater than in the time of Napoleon, at which time, however, the limits of France were vastly more extensive than at present, and yielded a larger supply.

Of these 200,000 persons, about thirty-seven per cent. are rejected on account of insufficiency of height, four feet ten inches, (equal to five feet three inches, English,) being the standard. This leaves about 126,000, from whom are again to be deducted those who, in consequence of deformi'y or disease, are unfit for the service. The number of recruits required in 1835 was 80,186, constituting two thirds of all that were of proper height, and requiring in some parts of the kingdom nearly all that were fit for service. To be tall, well made, and in good health, is therefore nearly equivalent to being condemned to serve as a common soldier for six years.

"The pay of a common soldier is forty-eight centimes, [or nine cents] per day. From this pittance ten centimes are withheld as a provision for the linen and stockings he may require, and for the small articles necessary to his dress and cleanliness; thirty cen times are withheld for his food, and he is supplied with one pound and a half of tolerable bread in addition; eight centimes, (about one and a half cents,) are given to him for pocket money. * ** The soldier has two meals a day. ** The first is composed of soup, and a quarter of a pound of boiled beef; the second of a small portion of vegetables, generally of potatoes or beans, with a quarter of a pound of mutton or veal. The only drink given is water."‡

Here we have the chief part of the population devoting themselves for six years, in the prime of life, to the service of the community, for a miserable allowance of food and clothing, and for pocket money to the amount of one and a half cents per day, or five dollars and forty-seven cents per annum, to be discharged at the expiration of that time to endeavour to acquire, thus late in life, some trade by which they may be able to earn a subsistence.§ If we suppose labour to be really worth only one

• Dupin, Forces Productives, t. I. p. 37.

"The result of the operations for recruiting the army, in France, proves that in the manufacturing districts the population can scarcely furnish its contingent. The number dismissed as unfit for the service, for various causes, is nearly two fifths."-Villeneuve, Economie l'olitique Chretienne, t. I. p. 321.

↑ Monarchy of the Middle Classes, Vol. I. p. 211.

"The military service is disliked by the people, because it strikes out six years from life. During these six years the soldier forgets his trade, if he has one, and too frequently contracts habits of idleness which prevent him from resuming it with success."-Chevalier, t. II. p. 240.