tated of submitting the presidential vote directly to the people
without intervention of electors. But it may well be doubted whether, in
the light of the political corruption of to-day, even this be not too
great an advance upon the democratic principle for the moral condition
of our people. For many years our country has been the victim of a
demagoguism, resulting from the working of this very principle, and the
question admits of serious discussion whether, instead of abrogating the
form, a return to the _spirit_ of the Constitution, while, at the same
time, holding strictly amenable those to whom this important choice is
intrusted, would not result in a pure and more statesmanlike
administration of public affairs. For the elector, being held
politically responsible for the conduct of the candidate for whom his
vote was cast, and for all the evils resulting from mal-administration,
would soon learn that to be faithful is not less important than to be
wise, and that his political interest was identified with the well-being
of the country. But it is one of the evils of our rapid progress that
the past is looked upon with such disfavor as to effectually prevent a
return even upon the path of error. In the pride of our civilization the
simpler theories of the olden time are despised as unworthy of, if not
wholly unfitted for, our present exalted intellectuality. The principle
is ignored that reform may sometimes be effected by retracing the steps
of years. Hence reform in this particular must either adopt the
dangerous experiment of establishing the pure democratic principle, or
else devise some third plan which shall charm by its novelty at the same
time that it is founded upon some evident and abiding truth.

And in this connection another great evil becomes evident which is in
itself a fault of our civilization, and not a defect arising from any
fundamental error in our system; an evil which, although always
predominant, has been more active in its workings, more injurious in its
effects during the present war than ever before. It is the spirit of
bitter, uncharitable, and even malicious opposition of the minority to
the acts and theories of the party in power, forgetting that no great
evil was ever yet effectually counteracted by opposition, which only
fans the flame and makes the fire burn hotter. And while no good can be
effected by such opposition, its direful effect is to divide the
councils of the nation, to para