ation of an
individual to power.

The great advantage of hereditary monarchies is, that as the private
interest of a family is always intimately connected with the interests
of the State, the executive government is never suspended for a single
instant; and if the affairs of a monarchy are not better conducted than
those of a republic, at least there is always some one to conduct them,
well or ill, according to his capacity. In elective States, on the
contrary, the wheels of government cease to act, as it were, of their
own accord at the approach of an election, and even for some time
previous to that event. The laws may indeed accelerate the operation of
the election, which may be conducted with such simplicity and rapidity
that the seat of power will never be left vacant; but, notwithstanding
these precautions, a break necessarily occurs in the minds of the
people.

At the approach of an election the head of the executive government is
wholly occupied by the coming struggle; his future plans are doubtful;
he can undertake nothing new, and the he will only prosecute with
indifference those designs which another will perhaps terminate. "I am
so near the time of my retirement from office," said President Jefferson
on the 21st of January, 1809 (six weeks before the election), "that I
feel no passion, I take no part, I express no sentiment. It appears
to me just to leave to my successor the commencement of those measures
which he will have to prosecute, and for which he will be responsible."

On the other hand, the eyes of the nation are centred on a single point;
all are watching the gradual birth of so important an event. The wider
the influence of the executive power extends, the greater and the
more necessary is its constant action, the more fatal is the term of
suspense; and a nation which is accustomed to the government, or, still
more, one used to the administrative protection of a powerful executive
authority would be infallibly convulsed by an election of this kind.
In the United States the action of the Government may be slackened with
impunity, because it is always weak and circumscribed. *u

[Footnote u: [This, however, may be a great danger. The period during
which Mr. Buchanan retained office, after the election of Mr. Lincoln,
from November, 1860, to March, 1861, was that which enabled the seceding
States of the South to complete their preparations for the Civil War,
and the Executive Government was para