the United States no central administration and no
dependent series of public functionaries exist. Local authority has been
carried to lengths which no European nation could endure without
great inconvenience, and which has even produced some disadvantageous
consequences in America. But in the United States the centralization
of the Government is complete; and it would be easy to prove that the
national power is more compact than it has ever been in the old nations
of Europe. Not only is there but one legislative body in each State;
not only does there exist but one source of political authority;
but district assemblies and county courts have not in general been
multiplied, lest they should be tempted to exceed their administrative
duties, and interfere with the Government. In America the legislature
of each State is supreme; nothing can impede its authority; neither
privileges, nor local immunities, nor personal influence, nor even the
empire of reason, since it represents that majority which claims to be
the sole organ of reason. Its own determination is, therefore, the only
limit to this action. In juxtaposition to it, and under its immediate
control, is the representative of the executive power, whose duty it
is to constrain the refractory to submit by superior force. The only
symptom of weakness lies in certain details of the action of the
Government. The American republics have no standing armies to intimidate
a discontented minority; but as no minority has as yet been reduced to
declare open war, the necessity of an army has not been felt. *q The
State usually employs the officers of the township or the county to
deal with the citizens. Thus, for instance, in New England, the assessor
fixes the rate of taxes; the collector receives them; the town-treasurer
transmits the amount to the public treasury; and the disputes which may
arise are brought before the ordinary courts of justice. This method of
collecting taxes is slow as well as inconvenient, and it would prove a
perpetual hindrance to a Government whose pecuniary demands were large.
It is desirable that, in whatever materially affects its existence, the
Government should be served by officers of its own, appointed by itself,
removable at pleasure, and accustomed to rapid methods of proceeding.
But it will always be easy for the central government, organized as it
is in America, to introduce new and more efficacious modes of action,
proportioned to its wants. [