and the nations
which are favored by free institutions invariably find that their
resources increase even more rapidly than their taxes.

My present object is to compare free nations to each other, and to point
out the influence of democracy upon the finances of a State.

Communities, as well as organic bodies, are subject to certain fixed
rules in their formation which they cannot evade. They are composed of
certain elements which are common to them at all times and under all
circumstances. The people may always be mentally divided into three
distinct classes. The first of these classes consists of the wealthy;
the second, of those who are in easy circumstances; and the third is
composed of those who have little or no property, and who subsist more
especially by the work which they perform for the two superior orders.
The proportion of the individuals who are included in these three
divisions may vary according to the condition of society, but the
divisions themselves can never be obliterated.

It is evident that each of these classes will exercise an influence
peculiar to its own propensities upon the administration of the finances
of the State. If the first of the three exclusively possesses the
legislative power, it is probable that it will not be sparing of the
public funds, because the taxes which are levied on a large fortune only
tend to diminish the sum of superfluous enjoyment, and are, in point of
fact, but little felt. If the second class has the power of making the
laws, it will certainly not be lavish of taxes, because nothing is
so onerous as a large impost which is levied upon a small income.
The government of the middle classes appears to me to be the most
economical, though perhaps not the most enlightened, and certainly not
the most generous, of free governments.

But let us now suppose that the legislative authority is vested in
the lowest orders: there are two striking reasons which show that the
tendency of the expenditure will be to increase, not to diminish. As the
great majority of those who create the laws are possessed of no property
upon which taxes can be imposed, all the money which is spent for the
community appears to be spent to their advantage, at no cost of their
own; and those who are possessed of some little property readily find
means of regulating the taxes so that they are burdensome to the wealthy
and profitable to the poor, although the rich are unable to take the
same adva