t they are granted to, the government, being, in other
words, concessions of natural rights made by the people to the state,
for the benefits of social protection. So long as this vital difference
exists between ourselves and other nations, it will be vain to think of
finding analogies in their institutions. It is true that, in an age like
this, public opinion is itself a charter, and that the most despotic
government which exists within the pale of Christendom, must, in some
degree, respect its influence. The mildest and justest governments in
Europe are, at this moment, theoretically despotisms. The characters of
both prince and people enter largely into the consideration of so
extraordinary results; and it should never be forgotten that, though the
character of the latter be sufficiently secure, that of the former is
liable to change. But, admitting every benefit which possibly can flow
from a just administration, with wise and humane princes, a government
which is not properly based on the people, possesses an unavoidable and
oppressive evil of the first magnitude, in the necessity of supporting
itself by physical force and onerous impositions, against the natural
action of the majority.

Were we to characterize a republic, we should say it was a state in
which power, both theoretically and practically, is derived from the
nation, with a constant responsibility of the agents of the public to
the people--a responsibility that is neither to be evaded nor denied.
That such a system is better on a large than on a small scale, though
contrary to brilliant theories which have been written to uphold
different institutions, must be evident on the smallest reflection,
since the danger of all popular governments is from popular mistakes;
and a people of diversified interests and extended territorial
possessions, are much less likely to be the subjects of sinister
passions than the inhabitants of a single town or county. If to this
definition we should add, as an infallible test of the genus, that a
true republic is a government of which all others are jealous and
vituperative, on the instinct of self-preservation, we believe there
would be no mistaking the class. How far Venice would have been
obnoxious to this proof, the reader is left to judge for himself.

CHAPTER I.

"I stood in Venice on the Bridge of Sighs,
A palace and a prison on each hand;
I saw from out the wave her structures rise,
As from the str