ocracy is
unable to conceive the pleasures of the rich or to witness them without
envy, an aristocracy is slow to understand, or, to speak more correctly,
is unacquainted with, the privations of the poor. The poor man is not
(if we use the term aright) the fellow of the rich one; but he is a
being of another species. An aristocracy is therefore apt to care but
little for the fate of its subordinate agents; and their salaries are
only raised when they refuse to perform their service for too scanty a
remuneration.

It is the parsimonious conduct of democracy towards its principal
officers which has countenanced a supposition of far more economical
propensities than any which it really possesses. It is true that it
scarcely allows the means of honorable subsistence to the individuals
who conduct its affairs; but enormous sums are lavished to meet the
exigencies or to facilitate the enjoyments of the people. *j The money
raised by taxation may be better employed, but it is not saved. In
general, democracy gives largely to the community, and very sparingly to
those who govern it. The reverse is the case in aristocratic countries,
where the money of the State is expended to the profit of the persons
who are at the head of affairs.

[Footnote j: See the American budgets for the cost of indigent citizens
and gratuitous instruction. In 1831 $250,000 were spent in the State of
New York for the maintenance of the poor, and at least $1,000,000
were devoted to gratuitous instruction. (William's "New York Annual
Register," 1832, pp. 205 and 243.) The State of New York contained only
1,900,000 inhabitants in the year 1830, which is not more than double
the amount of population in the Department du Nord in France.]

Difficulty of Distinguishing The Causes Which Contribute To The Economy
Of The American Government

We are liable to frequent errors in the research of those facts which
exercise a serious influence upon the fate of mankind, since nothing
is more difficult than to appreciate their real value. One people
is naturally inconsistent and enthusiastic; another is sober and
calculating; and these characteristics originate in their physical
constitution or in remote causes with which we are unacquainted.

These are nations which are fond of parade and the bustle of festivity,
and which do not regret the costly gaieties of an hour. Others, on
the contrary, are attached to more retiring pleasures, and seem almost
ashamed of app