re was
exhausted in order to relieve indigent citizens, or to supply the
games and theatrical amusements of the populace. It is true that the
representative system was then very imperfectly known, and that, at
the present time, the influence of popular passion is less felt in the
conduct of public affairs; but it may be believed that the delegate
will in the end conform to the principles of his constituents, and favor
their propensities as much as their interests.

The extravagance of democracy is, however, less to be dreaded in
proportion as the people acquires a share of property, because on the
one hand the contributions of the rich are then less needed, and, on
the other, it is more difficult to lay on taxes which do not affect the
interests of the lower classes. On this account universal suffrage
would be less dangerous in France than in England, because in the latter
country the property on which taxes may be levied is vested in fewer
hands. America, where the great majority of the citizens possess some
fortune, is in a still more favorable position than France.

There are still further causes which may increase the sum of public
expenditure in democratic countries. When the aristocracy governs, the
individuals who conduct the affairs of State are exempted by their own
station in society from every kind of privation; they are contented with
their position; power and renown are the objects for which they strive;
and, as they are placed far above the obscurer throng of citizens, they
do not always distinctly perceive how the well-being of the mass of the
people ought to redound to their own honor. They are not indeed callous
to the sufferings of the poor, but they cannot feel those miseries as
acutely as if they were themselves partakers of them. Provided that the
people appear to submit to its lot, the rulers are satisfied, and they
demand nothing further from the Government. An aristocracy is more
intent upon the means of maintaining its influence than upon the means
of improving its condition.

When, on the contrary, the people is invested with the supreme
authority, the perpetual sense of their own miseries impels the rulers
of society to seek for perpetual ameliorations. A thousand different
objects are subjected to improvement; the most trivial details are
sought out as susceptible of amendment; and those changes which are
accompanied with considerable expense are more especially advocated,
since the object