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classes of the population. To persons of this profession, BOOK especially those of short standing, both the pay and the honour LXXXII. of serving in Congress, are objects of some importance; and in a country where all are busy, such lawyers can absent themselves from their usual residence, with less inconvenience, than merchants or farmers. It is besides natural that the people should commit the charge of their public interests in preference to those persons who make the laws and constitution of the country their study, and who are supposed to be peculiarly qualified by their habits to assert the claims of those who employ them. To the predominance of this class of persons, and to other circumstances in the composition of Congress, we must also ascribe it, that the discussions on an interesting question, instead of being closed at a single sitting, as in the British parliament, are sometimes protracted for ten or twelve days. First, a person really responsible to his constituents, and receiving their pay, naturally considers himself in some measure as their agent or procurator, sent to Congress to watch over their interests, and conduct their business. Such a person gives closer attendance, and makes more regular exertions, than a man of family and fortune, who serves for honour, is responsible to nobody, and has no other stimulus to act than a vague feeling of public duty. Speeches for show, in acquittal as it were of the debt due to their constituents, and sometimes, perhaps, to the hinderance of business, will occasionally be made by representatives of the former description. In the second place, though Congress is not a stranger to party spirit, it is certain that the members are not so regularly enlisted into two adverse factions as in the British Parliament, and that in the greater number of cases, the decision is more governed by argument and public feeling, and less by party connexion. Debating, therefore, partakes less of the nature of dialectical parade, and more of that of a real contest, in which victory may be presumed to rest with those who have the most imposing show of reason on their side. To this we must add, that though the House of Representatives is comparatively a

BOOK small body, the usual attendance is fuller than in the House LXXXII. of Commons. Forty members (out of 658) constitute a

quorum for conducting business in the latter, and 107 (out

of 212) in the former. The composition of the House of Representatives in 1822 was as follows:

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Pay of public

officers.

New elections produce a change of members much more frequently than in the House of Commons. At the general election in 1821 the number of new members was ninety-two, but this was considered rather a greater change than usual. The scale of pay for public officers in the United States is remarkably, perhaps injudiciously, moderate, as will be seen from the following table :--

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Ambassadors to England, France, Russia, &c. seven in num

ber, each

Secretaries of Legation, each

6000 1320

6000 1320

3500 770

4000 880

3000 660

3000

660

5000 1100

4500 880

3500 770

9000 2000

2000 440

440t

Federal ju

diciary.

Consuls in London, Paris, &c.

2000

The federal judiciary consists of a supreme court, which sits at Washington, and a district court in each (a) state, in

*Niles' Register for 22d June, 1822. 187 was then the full number of members.

+ Warden, chap. XL.

(a) [The states of New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia form each two districts, with two district courts.]—AM. ED.

which one judge sits. In the supreme court there is a chief BOOK judge and six associate judges, who hold their office during LXXXII. good behaviour. This court has original jurisdiction in all cases affecting ambassadors, and consuls, and those in which a state is a party. It has appellate jurisdiction in all cases arising under the Federal constitution, in all admiralty cases, in controversies between two states, or two citizens of different states, and between a state, or the citizens thereof, and foreign states or subjects. The supreme court, deriving its authority from the constitution, exercises a power not enjoyed by the inferior courts. It has refused to give effect to, and by this means has virtually annulled several acts of the state legislatures, and even of Congress itself, on the ground that these acts, by "impairing the obligation of contracts," violated a rule made binding by the constitution on the legislative bodies.* The Federal judges are appointed by the executive, with the approbation of the Senate. In this and the other Federal courts, jurors and witnesses are allowed 14 dollars a-day, and five cents per mile of travelling charges. The basis of the system of law in the United States is the common law of England, modified by acts of the general and state governments, which constitute the written law; and the works not only of Coke and Blackstone, but of the. most recent English writers, and even the latest Term Reports, are familiarly cited in the courts.

vernments.

The state governments are extremely similar to that of State gothe Federal body in their composition. The legislature consists always of two branches, both of which are returned by the same electors; and these electors may be said to comprise the whole adult white population, the usual qualifications being citizenship, with one or two years residence, and payment of taxes. The only exceptions are the following:-In Vermont the legislature consists of a House of Representatives only; in North Carolina representatives are chosen by the whole resident free citizens, but senators only by freeholders; in New Jersey and in Virginia, the right of suffrage for both Houses is limited to persons holding a small

* North American Review for Jan, 1820. Fed. Constitution, Art. I. Sect, 10.

Representatives.

BOOK amount of landed property; in Maryland the Senators are LXXXII. chosen by delegates named for the purpose by the people. In all the States the period for which the Representatives serve is either one or two years. The elections are biennial in South Carolina, Tennessee, Louisiana, Illinois, and Missouri, and annual in the other nineteen states. Down to 1818 the elections were semi-annual in Connecticut.

Senators.

The shortest period for which the Senators serve in any state is one year, and the longest five. In Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, North Carolina, Georgia, the Senators hold their office for one year only; in Ohio and Tennessee for two years; in Delaware, Mississippi, Alabama, Indiana, for three years; in New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, South Carolina, Kentucky, Louisiana, Illinois, Missouri, for four years; and in Maryland for five years. Except in Maryland, when the senate of any state serves for more than one year, it is renewed by parts or divisions, one-third of the members going out annually when they serve for three years, and onefourth when they serve for four. In some cases, however, when the senators serve for four years, the renewal is by halves every two years.

No government, however perfect when first established, can continue good, unless its mechanism is such that it can adapt itself to the changes which take place in society. A scheme of legislation absolutely fixed, although it were the work of angels, would come in time to have the vices of a Amending despotism. Hence, in all the new, and in most of the older tions. state constitutions, and in the federal constitutions also, pro

constitu

vision is made for adopting amendments. In some of the states, alterations in the constitution may be made by the votes of two successive legislatures, and as the representatives in these states are elected annually, this does substantially involve an appeal to the people. But the general rule is, that no change can be introduced without an express reference to the opinions of the people, who either decide upon the amendment proposed in their district meetings, or elect delegates for the special purpose, who meet in convention, and decide for them. This admirable contrivance keeps

the public institutions in harmony with the state of know- BOOK ledge and opinion, checks the growth of abuses, prevents LXXXII. the State governments from degenerating into oligarchies, and destroys the seeds of convulsion and revolution, by affording an easy process for effecting those necessary changes which, in other countries, can only be accomplished by violence. Nor has this arrangement given birth to a restless spirit of innovation. Alterations have neither been numerous nor rashly gone about; and in all the states the people have shown themselves disposed rather to bear with small inconveniences than to hazard changes of doubtful advantage. New states, however, are added to the republic from time to time, and in the forming of new, and amending of old constitutions, experiments are constantly making in the theory of government. For the first time in the history of the world, these are conducted with perfect fairness, and on rational principles; and if, therefore, we attend to the composition of the more recent, and the changes introduced into the older systems of legislation, we shall ascertain what are those principles in favour of which experience seems to have decided in the United States. These may be stated in a few words. 1. There is evidently a disposition in the people of the United States to abolish all restrictions on the right of suffrage, to render it virtually universal, and to adopt the method of voting by ballot. 2. In the composition of the chamber of representatives, a preference is shown for annual elections. 3. A longer term of service is preferred for the senate; and four years seem to be considered the most suitable period. 4. With this longer period is conjoined the method of partial renewal, which deserves to be,considered a material improvement in legislation. In the Federal government, which requires greater stability of character and purpose, a duration of two years has been judiciously assigned to the House of Representatives, and six years to the Senate. 5. In the old States, the governor is elected generally for one year; in the new, for three or four years; and in all the States by the people, except in New Jersey, MaryJand, Virginia, the two Carolinas, and Georgia, where he is chosen by the legislature. He generally possesses the pow

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