ment in England, so far as it is awake, is not meanly provided with
the ways of making itself respected, whether for the purpose of
displacing and replacing a Ministry, or of constraining it (as sometimes
happens) to alter or reverse its policy sufficiently, at least, to
conjure down the gathering and muttering storm.

It is true, indeed, that every nation is of necessity, to a great
extent, in the condition of the sluggard with regard to public policy;
hard to rouse, harder to keep aroused, sure after a little while to sink
back into his slumber:--

"Pressitque jacentem
Dulcis et alta quies, placidaeque simillima morti."

--AEn., vi., 522.

The people have a vast, but an encumbered power; and, in their struggles
with overweening authority, or with property, the excess of force, which
they undoubtedly possess, is more than counterbalanced by the constant
wakefulness of the adversary, by his knowledge of their weakness, and by
his command of opportunity. But this is a fault lying rather in the
conditions of human life than in political institutions. There is no
known mode of making attention and inattention equal in their results.
It is enough to say that in England, when the nation can attend, it can
prevail. So we may say, then, that in the American Union the Federal
Executive is independent for each four years both of the Congress and of
the people. But the British Ministry is largely dependent on the people
whenever the people firmly will it; and is always dependent on the House
of Commons, except of course when it can safely and effectually appeal
to the people.

So far, so good. But if we wish really to understand the manner in which
the Queen's Government over the British Empire is carried on, we must
now prepare to examine into some sharper contrasts than any which our
path has yet brought into view. The power of the American Executive
resides in the person of the actual President, and passes from him to
his successor. His Ministers, grouped around him, are the servants, not
only of his office, but of his mind. The intelligence, which carries on
the Government, has its main seat in him. The responsibility of failures
is understood to fall on him; and it is round his head that success
sheds its halo. The American Government is described truly as a
Government composed of three members, of three powers distinct from one
another. The English Government is likewise so described, not