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with all ordinary avocations. have more to say in the sequel; but the idea that government is to be absorbed and lost in the body of the people, and merged in the common pursuits of industry and trade, we believe to be fraught with mischief, and shall undertake to expose it. It is less an idea, we are aware, than a tendency, which we have to oppose; because the principle which we rely on in our opposition is so plain that, whenever expressed, there is no inclination to question it. But since the disposition we refer to works unsuspected beneath its protection, we shall express our views at some length.

As to the term of office, we shall

Our principle is this; that under any form of government, in all circumstances, the action and functions of the government and the people are universally, invariably, and necessarily distinct and different. At any moment of time, there is always a government and a people; and however rapidly the persons composing the government are changed, or in whatever manner appointed, as long as it exists in their hands, they are invested with a certain authority over the people inherent in the nature of the office. Whether the power is forcibly assumed or voluntarily conferred, it is parted with by the people. The formalities under which it is exercised, however important with respect to the objects which a government is capable of accomplishing, do not affect this inherent quality any more than they do the extent of the power exerted; and it is evident that all degrees of slavery and freedom may exist under all sorts of constitutions. All government is a public corporation, formed by all, or submitted to by all, for the accomplishment of objects in which all are more or less interested. The objects vary, it is true; but they vary according to the means and powers which the government has at its disposal. It is a favorite fancy of ours, that government, which is now so fragmentary and disjointed all over the world, one thing here and another there, was everywhere, in the beginning, as it is still in communities which have continued in the stage of infancy, the evidence and the first exertion of the social instinct of mankind, and included, as yet undistinguishable, all the elements of power and influence which men possess in and over each other; and that it was sustained by all

the means that could be made to affect the feelings of a common nature. The spirit and form of religion, the exigencies of morality and custom, music and poetry, and all the offshoots of the infant imagination, were within the province, and the legitimate instruments, of the only apparent system of connection among men. Influence of every sort was called by the same name, and great natures ruled by divine authority. Government has been gradually despoiled of portions of its power, as different associations and relations have grown up in the progress of civilization; and it has been found that many subjects, originally grouped together under the ægis of governmental authority, are better provided for, if left to the operation of voluntary and moral combinations and motives. Indeed, it would almost seem as if the extent to which this process has been carried is a measure of the progress of civilization and the advancement of a people, and that that is the ideal of a government, which, if not the most restricted in its functions, still allows the greatest latitude of moral and voluntary coöperation in relation to subjects which fall within such influences. The independence of nations upon their political organization, in regard to these subjects, is very various, and does not practically appear to depend very much upon its forms. And for our part, we do not see how a government, which finds itself in possession of power over them, is called upon to resign it or can help exercising it.

But there is one system of means by which the power of all governments is exerted,- by physical pains and penalties; and there is one object which these are calculated to accomplish, — the protection of persons and property. Whatever other business a government may have to do, this one object, therefore, is common to them all. And although our own government is by no means destitute of moral authority beyond this, yet the machinery by which it acts peculiarly confirms and adapts it to this single purpose, for which it is found to be singularly efficient. But is not its action the same in kind and substance, so far as this matter is concerned, as that of the governments which are called by another name? Is the effect different, so far as the object is obtained, in both, upon either that class of the community which is protected in

the rights which the government recognizes, or that class which is restrained or punished for violating them? The nature of the rights established by the law has no immediate connection with the method of enforcing them within the sphere in which it acts; the same course of proceedings may end in justice or injustice, in tyranny or the suppression of tyranny. Opposite laws are enforced, and with the same effect, by the same system, and even by the same persons. The hand that to-day collects taxes, may to-morrow be set to distribute alms; the officer who commits a prisoner, may be ordered to discharge him; or he who has set over property to one party, to transfer it to another. These changes in the laws take place under all forms of government, and without affecting those forms. There is no question of the existence of a government over the people in the case of other constitutions, and it is hard to see, in one case, why the fact of the same thing being done in the same way, does not prove the existence of the same cause. The thief who is sent to prison, is just as effectually punished, whether he ever had an opportunity of voting for the magistrate who commits him, or not. It makes little difference to him whether the officer who hales him along is called constable or gensdarme, or, if he escapes, whether he is retaken by the New Police, or the ancient posse comitatus. It undoubtedly appears to him that the people have nothing to do with it either way. Nor, we confess, are our eyes sharp enough to see their share in the transaction. That the real actors, the act by the authority of a

ministers of the law, claim only to delegated trust, is proof that the power has really been committed into their hands. That precautions are taken against its abuse, and that they are held to a strict accountability for its exercise, is likewise an acknowledgment that, while it exists, it is administered within its proper sphere; it is not to be controlled nor interfered with by those from whom it proceeded. We are disposed to be the more particular in expressing our views upon this topic, because we are aware that we are in danger of trenching upon some of the formulæ under which this government is carried on. It is said to be a government of the people the people are said to govern themselves. Now, so far as these expressions are used as convenient rhetor

ical figures so far, indeed, as they express the truth in drawing the distinction between our government and almost all others, which distinction appears, and is naturally expressed, differently, according to the quarter from which it is approached, or so far as they are employed for political purposes, we have nothing to say against them. Indeed, he ought to be sufficiently warned, who sees how powerful an instrument such by-words have been made in the course of our history. But if they are meant as the literal expression of a fact, or for a philosophical generalization, we insist that they are not correct. We know they have been employed by great men, and are sanctioned by long usage; but we are persuaded that, if those who invented these forms of speech, and who have continued to use them, had been less honored by the confidence of the people—if they had been more in opposition and less in office - they would have seen more clearly a difference between those who carry on the govern ment, and those for whose sake it is carried on. It would be too much to expect that such things should be very plain as long as one unites the functions of representative and constituent in his own person. He is too much occupied in keeping his place to spend time in defining its character. There is as much elation, in this country, in feeling ourself to be the people, as, in some countries, in feeling ourself to be above the people; and it amounts to the same thing. The people have undoubtedly great influence upon the government; and so they have in all countries where they have influence over each other. Acknowledge the government to be the representative of the people, no matter how perfect, and that it faithfully reflects their views and fulfils their wishes, it is still none the less an instrument set apart and specially appointed to that end. But it is safe to say that, at no time, is the government in exact accordance with the feeling of the country; and sometimes they are widely asunder. Even under our forms, it is sometimes a matter of time and trouble for an immense majority to accomplish their will, and there are some things which we never can accomplish. To say that this is a government of the people only, or that the people govern themselves, is, taken literally, to deny the existence of any government

over us; a state of things which, whether desirable or not, is very far from the fact. The word government, applied to our system, is not in vain; it means something. If every one of us will examine what share he really has in its administration, he will readily allow that, in his case, there is a government over him ready and able to regulate his conduct; and that which is over each is over all. Under our forms, the part of the people which is the most important of all is not in the administration, but in the foundation and direction of the government; they prescribe the purposes towards which it shall generally be directed, but the execution of them they are obliged to confide, and have confided, to appointed hands. The history of the Mexican war, the acquisition of California, and subsequent events, all of which took place without consulting the people, or an opportunity for them to form or express an opinion, ought to satisfy all men that we have a government, and that, if necessary, it can stand alone.

Monarchical governments generally claim to exercise their authority by divine appointment. In abrogating this form, it was natural that we should extend our revolt against the principle in which it pretends to have its origin, and which it uses as an instrument of its support. Making the people the starting-point and foundation of government, we have had no occasion, in our theories against monarchy, to make the distinction between the action of the people in establishing the government, and the action of the government after it is established. In the question between us, the matter is sufficiently put in issue upon either point. But for our own part, we are unwilling to grant the advocates of other forms of government even a claim of advantage derived from any such difference in either their origin or their operation. If any constitution of society is of divine authority, ours is; for it reveals the unity of human convictions, which is, at any rate, the divinity of politics. Those instincts and sentiments which form society and are the basis of government, and which exist in every human being, are the only vehicle for divine manifestations upon such things; and according as they are concentrated, divinity is with them. Politics is an experimental science, and the best government is therefore the most

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