earing to be pleased. In some countries the highest value
is set upon the beauty of public edifices; in others the productions of
art are treated with indifference, and everything which is unproductive
is looked down upon with contempt. In some renown, in others money, is
the ruling passion.

Independently of the laws, all these causes concur to exercise a very
powerful influence upon the conduct of the finances of the State. If the
Americans never spend the money of the people in galas, it is not only
because the imposition of taxes is under the control of the people,
but because the people takes no delight in public rejoicings. If they
repudiate all ornament from their architecture, and set no store on any
but the more practical and homely advantages, it is not only because
they live under democratic institutions, but because they are a
commercial nation. The habits of private life are continued in public;
and we ought carefully to distinguish that economy which depends upon
their institutions from that which is the natural result of their
manners and customs.

Whether The Expenditure Of The United States Can Be Compared To That Of
France

Two points to be established in order to estimate the extent of the
public charges, viz., the national wealth and the rate of taxation--The
wealth and the charges of France not accurately known--Why the wealth
and charges of the Union cannot be accurately known--Researches of
the author with a view to discover the amount of taxation of
Pennsylvania--General symptoms which may serve to indicate the amount of
the public charges in a given nation--Result of this investigation for
the Union.

Many attempts have recently been made in France to compare the public
expenditure of that country with the expenditure of the United States;
all these attempts have, however, been unattended by success, and a few
words will suffice to show that they could not have had a satisfactory
result.

In order to estimate the amount of the public charges of a people two
preliminaries are indispensable: it is necessary, in the first place, to
know the wealth of that people; and in the second, to learn what portion
of that wealth is devoted to the expenditure of the State. To show the
amount of taxation without showing the resources which are destined
to meet the demand, is to undertake a futile labor; for it is not the
expenditure, but the relation of the expenditure to the revenue, which
it is desir