Footnote q: [The Civil War of 1860-65
cruelly belied this statement, and in the course of the struggle the
North alone called two millions and a half of men to arms; but to the
honor of the United States it must be added that, with the cessation
of the contest, this army disappeared as rapidly as it had been
raised.--Translator's Note.]]

The absence of a central government will not, then, as has often been
asserted, prove the destruction of the republics of the New World;
far from supposing that the American governments are not sufficiently
centralized, I shall prove hereafter that they are too much so. The
legislative bodies daily encroach upon the authority of the Government,
and their tendency, like that of the French Convention, is to
appropriate it entirely to themselves. Under these circumstances the
social power is constantly changing hands, because it is subordinate to
the power of the people, which is too apt to forget the maxims of wisdom
and of foresight in the consciousness of its strength: hence arises its
danger; and thus its vigor, and not its impotence, will probably be the
cause of its ultimate destruction.

The system of local administration produces several different effects in
America. The Americans seem to me to have outstepped the limits of sound
policy in isolating the administration of the Government; for order,
even in second-rate affairs, is a matter of national importance. *r As
the State has no administrative functionaries of its own, stationed on
different points of its territory, to whom it can give a common impulse,
the consequence is that it rarely attempts to issue any general police
regulations. The want of these regulations is severely felt, and is
frequently observed by Europeans. The appearance of disorder which
prevails on the surface leads him at first to imagine that society is
in a state of anarchy; nor does he perceive his mistake till he has gone
deeper into the subject. Certain undertakings are of importance to the
whole State; but they cannot be put in execution, because there is no
national administration to direct them. Abandoned to the exertions of
the towns or counties, under the care of elected or temporary agents,
they lead to no result, or at least to no durable benefit.

[Footnote r: The authority which represents the State ought not, I
think, to waive the right of inspecting the local administration, even
when it does not interfere more actively. Suppose, for inst