or unless the common
weal demands his co-operation. This doctrine is universally admitted in
the United States. I shall hereafter examine the general influence which
it exercises on the ordinary actions of life; I am now speaking of the
nature of municipal bodies.

The township, taken as a whole, and in relation to the government of the
country, may be looked upon as an individual to whom the theory I
have just alluded to is applied. Municipal independence is therefore a
natural consequence of the principle of the sovereignty of the people in
the United States: all the American republics recognize it more or less;
but circumstances have peculiarly favored its growth in New England.

In this part of the Union the impulsion of political activity was given
in the townships; and it may almost be said that each of them originally
formed an independent nation. When the Kings of England asserted their
supremacy, they were contented to assume the central power of the State.
The townships of New England remained as they were before; and although
they are now subject to the State, they were at first scarcely dependent
upon it. It is important to remember that they have not been invested
with privileges, but that they have, on the contrary, forfeited a
portion of their independence to the State. The townships are only
subordinate to the State in those interests which I shall term social,
as they are common to all the citizens. They are independent in all
that concerns themselves; and amongst the inhabitants of New England
I believe that not a man is to be found who would acknowledge that the
State has any right to interfere in their local interests. The towns
of New England buy and sell, sue or are sued, augment or diminish
their rates, without the slightest opposition on the part of the
administrative authority of the State.

They are bound, however, to comply with the demands of the community. If
the State is in need of money, a town can neither give nor withhold the
supplies. If the State projects a road, the township cannot refuse to
let it cross its territory; if a police regulation is made by the State,
it must be enforced by the town. A uniform system of instruction is
organized all over the country, and every town is bound to establish the
schools which the law ordains. In speaking of the administration of the
United States I shall have occasion to point out the means by which the
townships are compelled to obey in thes