salary, can be put an end to by legislation, may well be doubted, inasmuch as it is plain that it is the direct result of a system, and not an occasional and exceptional phenomenon belonging to the obliquity and the low estimate of what is right and dignified, of this or that individual.

I should, nevertheless, be sorry to conclude this painful passage in the history of the working of the United States Legislature without pointing distinctly to the fact, that public opinion in that country has no difficulty in distinguishing between those members who lend themselves to these practices and those who do not; inasmuch as both Houses are known to contain, as they have ever contained, men as incapable of such practices as any who exist in the world.

I might very easily accumulate proofs in these pages of another fact, which the honest and dispassionate portion of public opinion in the United States admits-namely, that the general quality of the members sent to the national Legislature falls far short of the anti

cipations formed of what would be the result of their constitutional system at the time of its formation.

One extract will suffice, from a communication addressed to a most respectable journal, and forwarded to me by a gentleman in the United States of the highest honour and character, and of the most ample means of judging correctly. He accompanied it with an expression of regret that he believed it to be 66 every word true." It is as follows, a few expressions being omitted which might give unnecessary pain :

66

Consider, for one moment, the inevitable effects of our present style of politics. The quality of our politicians deteriorates most rapidly.* Write down a list of the twenty-five leading politicians of Washington's, Adams', or Jefferson's administration, and write opposite the names of our foremost twenty-five. Have we not among our

very foremost statesmen,' illiterate, shallow, noisy, boastful demagogues? It seems to me that the business of politics is getting to be done, more and more, by such persons; that men of worth, dignity, and wisdom, more and more abstain from handling the political pitch

* The Italics are in the original. See also note, p. 167.

which defiles; that the apathy of the intelligent class, with regard to politics, has become almost complete."

It is with no feeling of satisfaction that I record these and other facts and opinions regarding the deviations of the United States' institutions from the ideal formed of them by their founders. What I have already adduced, and have yet to bring to notice, on competent and ample authority, will, I know, give pain to many persons in that country, and to some for whom I cherish the highest esteem and regard. But the interests of truth, in reference to this country, and especially to our colonies, require that minor considerations should not be allowed to interfere. It is now sixty-five years since the United States, in adopting a new, and, as she thought, a better, form of government, embarked on that unexplored sea; and no one has, since 1834, essayed systematically to lay down her course, and to mark the currents on which she has drifted. It concerns the civilised world to know how she is faring on that voyage. It may have been one that she could not avoid; and the course she has taken

may have been the best for her. It is not ours, and we may be thankful that it is not. But we have too many reasons to be justly proud of our country, and grateful for the Providential guidance of centuries, which has brought it to what it is, to have any need to seek aliment for our pride from the miscalculations or disappointments of our neighbours.

I do not quote any of those reports of "scenes" in the Senate or in the House of Representatives which are before me. Their character is sufficiently known from the specimens which from time to time find their way into our own papers. They are invariably reprobated by the American press, with all the force of language that a deep sense of the discredit reflected by them upon their national Legislature can command. The best portion of the American press speaks of them in a manner, showing how painfully they wound the feelings of every man of cultivation and honour in the community. The individuals. capable of such language and conduct in either House of Congress are asserted to be

but few; and the outrage to decency is resented by the rest by the strongest marks of disapprobation. Nevertheless, two circumstances regarding them are conspicuous, and affect the character of the legislative assembly as well as that of individuals;-first, that the grossest and most insulting language is often repeated by the parties to the dispute, in spite of all attempts of the chairman to stop it, and appears to continue as long as it suits the pleasure of the disputants; next, that these mutual insults sometimes terminate without either the withdrawal of the offensive language on either side, or any attempt at explanation or apology; and the House rises without, as far as appears by the public reports, any adequate endeavour to assert its own dignity by insisting upon either one or the other.

We happily do not require, it is to be hoped, in this country, any warning as to the composition of our Legislature, or the conduct of our parliamentary debates, deducible from such facts and examples as those above ad