lpable that the United States and
Great Britain cannot both remain as they are. If we in America can have
a succession of capable and reputable Chief Magistrates for L5,000 a
year, of Chief Justices for L1,000, and of Cabinets at a gross cost of
less than L10,000, it is manifest that John Bull, who, loyal as he is,
has a strong instinct of thrift and a pride in getting the worth of his
money, will not long be content to pay a hundred times as much for his
Chief Executive and ten times as much for his Judiciary and Ministry as
we do. It is a question, therefore, of the deepest practical interest to
the British Nation whether the Americans do really enjoy the advantages
of peace, order and security for the rights of person and property
through instrumentalities so cheap, and so dependent on moral force
only, as those devised and established by Washington and his
compatriots. If we have these with a Civil List of less than L1,000,000
sterling, an Army of less than Ten Thousand men, and a Navy (why won't
it die and get decently buried?) of a dozen or two active vessels, why
should John tax and sweat himself as he does to maintain a Political
establishment which costs him over $150,000,000 a year beside the
interest on his enormous National Debt? If we, without any Church
endowed by law, have as ample and widely diffused provision for Divine
worship and Religious instruction as he has, why should he pay tithes to
endow Lord Bishops with incomes of L10,000 to L80,000 per annum?--These
and similar questions are beginning to be widely pondered here: they
refuse to be longer drowned by the blare of trumpets and the resonant
melody of "God save the Queen!" I know nobody who objects to that last
quoted sentiment, but there are many here, and the number is increasing,
who think there is an urgent and practical need of salvation also for
the People--salvation from heavy exactions, unjust burthens and galling
distinctions. And, as the interest of the Many in the reform of abuses
and the removal of impositions becomes daily more obvious and palpable,
so does the instinctive grasp of the Few to keep what they have and get
what they can become likewise more muscular and positive. And this
instinct absolutely demands a perversion or suppression of the truth
with regard to America--with regard especially to the prevalence of
order, justice and tranquillity within her borders. And not this only:
it is important to this class that it be made