indles are
all at work, the labour of so many smaller reels turned over to larger,
which in their turn yield up their produce, until the whole is collected
into one mass. The principle of the American Government is good; the
power that puts it in motion is enormous, and therefore, like the
complicated machinery I have compared it to, it requires constant
attention, and proper regulation of the propelling power, that it may
not become out of order. The propelling power is the sovereignty of the
people, otherwise the will of the majority. The motion of all
propelling powers must be regulated by a fly-wheel, or corrective check,
if not, the motion will gradually accelerate, until the machinery is
destroyed by the increase of friction. But there are other causes by
which the machinery may be deranged; as, although the smaller portions
of the machine, if defective, may at any time be taken out and repaired
without its being necessary for the machine to stop; yet if the larger
wheels are by any chance thrown out of their equilibrium, the machinery
may be destroyed just as it would be by a too rapid motion, occasioned
by the excess of propelling power. Further, there are external causes
which may endanger it: any machine may be thrown out of its level by a
convulsion, or shock, which will cause it to cease working, if even it
does not break it into fragments.

Now, the dangers which _threaten_ the United States are, the Federal
Government being still weaker than it is at present, or its becoming, as
it may from circumstances, too powerful.

The _present_ situation of the American Government is that the
fly-wheel, or regulator of the propelling power (that is to say the
aristocracy, or power of the senate,) has been nearly destroyed, and the
consequences are that the motion is at this moment too much accelerated,
and threatens in a few years to increase its rapidity, at the risk of
the destruction of the whole machinery.

But, although it will be necessary to point out the weakness of the
Federal Government, when opposed to the States or the majority, inasmuch
as the morality of the people is seriously affected by this weakness, my
object is not to enter into the merits of the government of the United
States as a _working_ government, but to inquire how far the Americans
are correct in their boast of its being a model for other countries.

Let us consider what is the best form of government. Certainly that
which most