be understood that balance of power and adaptation of the
laws to the various interests of the whole community, combined with the
due execution, of them against offenders of whatever class, then I
consider that there is unquestionably more liberty in England, in spite
of the restrictions by which the franchise is limited--nay, rather I
should say, in consequence of those very restrictions; for I believe
they tend to secure the services of more liberal, high-minded, and
independent representatives than any country--however highly educated
its population may be--would return under a system of universal
suffrage. I do not intend to convey in the foregoing observation, any
opinion as to how far it is desirable, or otherwise, to modify the
restrictions at present existing in England; it is obvious they should
keep pace with the growing intelligence of the community, inasmuch as,
if they do not, popular agitation is readily excited, and violent
changes are forced by ignorant passion, going far beyond those which
educated prudence and a sense of justice ought to have brought
forward.--Prevention is better than cure.

Mr. Everett, in a letter dated July 25, 1853, after observing that it
has long been the boast of England that she is the great city of refuge
for the rest of Europe, adds, "it is the prouder boast of the United
States, that they are, and ever have been, an asylum for the rest of the
world, including Great Britain herself:" he then goes on to say, "no
citizen has ever been driven into banishment."--This is bravely said by
an able son of the "Land of Liberty;" but when he penned it, he appears
to have forgotten that there are upwards of three millions of his own
fellow-creatures held in the galling shackles of hopeless slavery by the
citizens of that land of which he makes so proud a boast; and that from
one to two thousand of the wretched victims escape annually to the
British colony adjoining, which is their sole city of refuge on the
whole North American continent. Doubtless Mr. Everett's countrymen do
not sufficiently know this startling point of difference, or they would
hesitate in accepting such a boast. So ignorant are some of his
countrymen of the real truth as regards the citizens of Great Britain,
that a friend of mine was asked by a well-educated and otherwise
intelligent son of the Republic, "Is it really true that all the land in
England belongs to the Queen?"

While on the subject of liberty, it is w