thod would be a further and broader
application of universal suffrage. Make _all_ the offices elective.

Instead of _appointing_ Custom-House officials and postmasters,
_elect_ them. Put the responsibility where it belongs upon the
respective communities they serve. Then, men that are locally known
and respected would be selected. If the people are capable of electing
their own presidents, governors, representatives and judges, surely
they might be trusted to elect Custom-House officers and postmasters!
Otherwise, our republicanism is a humbug. This would abolish the
Washington grab-bag. It would also avoid the creation of a class of
life-officials than which nothing could be more dangerous and
unsavory.

If our fathers, with no precedents on the file, could announce their
sublime faith that all men are endowed by their Creator with the right
to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; if they could discard
the probate-court idea, and adopt universal suffrage; if, in spite of
inconsistencies and imperfections, their conception has flowered in
the best, and happiest, and most prosperous nation on the
globe,--cannot their children show a faith as serene, a courage as
brave? One thing is certain, the European experiment has failed, while
ours is a miracle of success--and most successful when most
consistently worked out. In such circumstances, shall we exchange this
for that, and go back from the nineteenth century to the fourteenth?

When Hume derided his mother's faith, and exhorted her to get rid of
her Christian prejudices, she answered: "My son, can you show me
anything better?"

EXTRINSIC SIGNIFICANCE OF CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT IN JAPAN.

BY KUMA OISHI, A. M.

All students of history are aware that the revolution of 1688
succeeded in consolidating constitutional government in England; that,
though toward the middle of the last century it had not yet assumed
its present admirable aspect, the English idea of political liberty
and religious toleration attracted the attention of Montesquieu and
Voltaire, who introduced it to their country; and that, since then,
accelerated by the establishment of the federal government in America,
and the triumph of the revolutionary principle in France, the theory
has spread over the continent with astonishing rapidity.

Now that constitutional government is established in Japan, will she
not exercise the same influence over the Asiatic continent as that
which Eng