.
There are, I believe, five thousand and ten members of State
legislatures, who receive about $350 per annum each. As some of the
returns are imperfect, the average which I have given of expenditure
may be rather high, and therefore I have not counted the mileage,
which is also universally allowed. Five thousand and ten members of
State legislatures at $350 each make $1,753,500, or 350,700 pounds
sterling a year. So you see, gentlemen, that the immediate
expenditure for the sovereignty of the United States is between
700,000 and 800,000 pounds a year. Gentlemen, I have not time to
pursue this interesting theme, otherwise I could show that you have
still but imperfectly ascertained the cost of sovereignty in a
republic. But, gentlemen, I cannot resist giving you one further
illustration.

The government of this country is considerably carried on by the aid
of royal commissions. So great is the increase of public business
that it would be probably impossible for a minister to carry on
affairs without this assistance. The Queen of England can command
for these objects the services of the most experienced statesmen,
and men of the highest position in society. If necessary, she can
summon to them distinguished scholars or men most celebrated in
science and in arts; and she receives from them services that are
unpaid. They are only too proud to be described in the commission
as her Majesty's "trusty councilors"; and if any member of these
commissions performs some transcendent services, both of thought and
of labor, he is munificently rewarded by a public distinction
conferred upon him by the fountain of honor. Gentlemen, the
government of the United States, has, I believe, not less availed
itself of the services of commissions than the government of the
United Kingdom; but in a country where there is no fountain of
honor, every member of these commissions is paid.

Gentlemen, I trust I have now made some suggestions to you
respecting the monarchy of England which at least may be so far
serviceable that when we are separated they may not be altogether
without advantage; and now, gentlemen, I would say something on the
subject of the House of Lords. It is not merely the authority of
the throne that is now disputed, but the character and the influence
of the House of Lords that are held up by some to public disregard.
Gentlemen, I shall not stop for a moment to offer you any proofs of
the advantage of a second c