jects whereon to throw away the supposed fathomless funds of the
treasury. I had feared the result, because I saw among them some of my
old fellow-laborers, of tried and known principles, yet often in their
minorities. I am aware that in one of their most ruinous vagaries,
the people were themselves betrayed into the same phrenzy with their
Representatives. The deficit produced, and a heavy tax to supply it,
will, I trust, bring both to their sober senses.

But it is not from this branch of government we have most to fear. Taxes
and short elections will keep them right. The judiciary of the United
States is the subtle corps of sappers and miners constantly working
under ground to undermine the foundations of our confederated fabric.
They are construing our constitution from a co-ordination of a general
and special government to a general and supreme one alone. This will lay
all things at their feet, and they are too well versed in English law to
forget the maxim, '_Boni judicis est ampliare jurisdictionem._' We shall
see if they are bold enough to take the daring stride their five lawyers
have lately taken. If they do, then, with the editor of our book in his
address to the public, I will say, that against this every man should
raise his voice, and more, should uplift his arm. Who wrote this
admirable address? Sound, luminous, strong, not a word too much, nor one
which can be changed but for the worse. That pen should go on, lay bare
these wounds of our constitution, expose these _decisions seriatim_,
and arouse, as it is able, the attention of the nation to these bold
speculators on its patience. Having found, from experience, that
impeachment is an impracticable thing, a mere scare-crow, they consider
themselves secure for life; they skulk from responsibility to public
opinion, the only remaining hold on them, under a practice first
introduced into England by Lord Mansfield. An opinion is huddled up in
conclave, perhaps by a majority of one, delivered as if unanimous and
with the silent acquiescence of lazy or timid associates, by a crafty
chief judge, who sophisticates the law to his mind, by the turn of his
own reasoning. A judiciary law was once reported by the Attorney General
to Congress, requiring each judge to deliver his opinion _seriatim_ and
openly, and then to give it in writing to the clerk to be entered in the
record. A judiciary independent of a King or executive alone, is a good
thing; but independence o