all their movements, with some
obstruction. It is therefore no wonder, that when these states are to be
considered as machines to operate for some one great end, that this
dissipated and balanced force is not easily concentred, or made to bear
with the whole force of the nation upon one point.

The British state is, without question, that which pursues the greatest
variety of ends, and is the least disposed to sacrifice any one of them
to another or to the whole. It aims at taking in the entire circle of
human desires, and securing for them their fair enjoyment. Our
legislature has been ever closely connected, in its most efficient part,
with individual feeling and individual interest. Personal liberty, the
most lively of these feelings and the most important of these interests,
which in other European countries has rather arisen from the system of
manners and the habitudes of life than from the laws of the state, (in
which it flourished more from neglect than attention,) in England has
been a direct object of government.

On this principle, England would be the weakest power in the whole
system. Fortunately, however, the great riches of this kingdom, arising
from a variety of causes, and the disposition of the people, which is as
great to spend as to accumulate, has easily afforded a disposable
surplus that gives a mighty momentum to the state. This difficulty, with
these advantages to overcome it, has called forth the talents of the
English financiers, who, by the surplus of industry poured out by
prodigality, have outdone everything which has been accomplished in
other nations. The present minister has outdone his predecessors, and,
as a minister of revenue, is far above my power of praise. But still
there are cases in which England feels more than several others (though
they all feel) the perplexity of an immense body of balanced advantages
and of individual demands, and of some irregularity in the whole mass.

France differs essentially from all those governments which are formed
without system, which exist by habit, and which are confused with the
multitude and with the complexity of their pursuits. What now stands as
government in France is struck out at a heat. The design is wicked,
immoral, impious, oppressive: but it is spirited and daring; it is
systematic; it is simple in its principle; it has unity and consistency
in perfection. In that country, entirely to cut off a branch of
commerce, to extinguish a m