nd his coadjutors had no power to control the nature of man.

It may be inquired by some, what difference there is between a republic
and a democracy, as the terms have been, and are often, used
indifferently. I know not whether my distinction is right, but I
consider that when those possessed of most talent and wisdom are
selected to act for the benefit of a people, with full reliance upon
their acting for the best, and without any shackle or pledge being
enforced, we may consider that form of government as a republic ruled by
the most enlightened and capable; but that if, on the contrary, those
selected by the people to represent them are not only bound by the
pledges previous to their election, but ordered by the mass how to vote
after their election, then the country, is not ruled by the collected
wisdom of the people, but by the majority, who are as often wrong as
right, and then the governing principle sinks into a democracy, as it
now is in America. [Note 3.]

It is singular to remark, notwithstanding her monarchical form of
government, how much more republican England is in her institutions than
America. Ask an American what he considers the necessary qualifications
of a president, and, after intellectual qualification, he will tell you
firmness, decision, and undaunted courage; and it is really an enigma to
him, although he will not acknowledge it, how the sceptre of a country
like England, subject to the monarchical sway which he detests, can be
held in the hand of a young female of eighteen years of age.

But upon one point I have made up my mind, which is that, with all its
imperfections, democracy is the form of government _best suited to the
present condition of America_, in so far as it is the one under which
the country has made, and will continue to make, the most rapid
advances. That it must eventually be changed is true, but the times of
its change must be determined by so many events, hidden in futurity,
which may accelerate or retard the convulsion, that it would be
presumptuous for any one to attempt to name a period when the present
form of government shall be broken up, and the multitude shall separate
and re-embody themselves under new institutions.

In the arrangement of this work, I have considered it advisable to
present, first, to the reader those _portions_ of my diary which may be
interesting, and in which are recorded traits and incidents which will
bear strongly upon the commentar