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the laws of the union, and those of the twenty-four states are applied to the preservation of order and the furtherance of justice, there is yet another circumstance which has struck me most forcibly, and which I am somewhat at a loss to explain. When a foreigner walks about the streets of this metropolis, and observes its crowds busily passing along, intent on the pursuits of business or pleasure, divided by clashing interests, and exposed like all other communities to the disorders which vice generates and fosters, he asks himself in vain who watches over this mass of human beings, and restrains and governs those passions which once unloosed, would destroy their possessors. He sees no ensighs of power in the street, no barriers to restrain his steps; he walks along unnoticed and undisturbed, and he might almost imagine himself in a society whose regulations depended solely on the primitive morality of its members. The operation of the laws here is in fact almost imperceptible, and the edicts of the people promulgated by their magistrates pursue their noiseless way into the recesses of every family, and do not here, as in less fortunate countries, require an armed force to execute them on their very authors. All this has produced a powerful impression on M and myself, and we are never weary of discussing paradoxes of so singular a description. We find the system of laws complicated, nay, confused; and we see it applied directly and effectively. We find a wealthy, trading people, in daily intercourse with every part of the habitable world, and receiving with universal liberality, too often into its bosom, the vilest as well as the most enlightened members of European society, moving silently forward by the aid of a few almost invisible regulations, which seem not like bands of iron destined to fetter and restrain, but rather like the pillars of a beautiful edifice, which embellish while they support it. Americans with whom I have talked on this subject cannot appreciate this enviable distinction. They cannot see France, or the contrast would be too striking not to arrest immediate attention. They cannot see the streets of our Paris guarded by soldiers day and night. They cannot visit the theatre, and again meet an armed force at the door, and afterwards on their entrance into the house discover the gleaming arms of soldiers among the audience as well as the actors. Here no regular uniformed corps, payed by the government, performs the duty of firemen ; but that service is rendered with alacrity by the instinctive feelings of benevolence.*

*The writer most probably alluded to the corps of Sapeurs-pompiers. These men form a strong regiment at Paris, are uniformed and quartered

No gaudy ensigns here inform you that government has assumed a monopoly in an article, which ministers either to our gratification or our artificial wants, and that at this place you may acknowledge your slavery and pay the impost which supports it.*

A widely extended system of espionage is here unnecessary to ensure the existence, much less the execution of the laws. Government does not intrude upon your privacy, by requiring you to procure passports to visit your friends in the next town, nor employ your servant to betray the sentiments, (ces epanchmens du cœur,) which I have without disguise laid open to you in this letter. If the Americans could once behold these things, and see how the arm of government ever follows you in other climes--how you are constantly surrounded by the trappings of state power, where the eye is too often pleased, while the heart might well be sad-they would be struck, as I have been, with the effect produced by the silent and imperceptible operation of the laws in this country, unsupported by any force than their own wisdom, and the sanction they carry with them.

I said before, that I could hardly explain to myself the causes of this singular phenomenon. I think however it may be traced to the rock on which this republic is founded; the individual morality and intelligence of the citizens. In other communities the supreme power is charged with the duty of causing the observance of the law; but here every citizen, knowing and understanding his rights and his interest, and always taking a personal share in the business of government, becomes himself an immediate and steady executor of a regulation, in whose enaction he has directly or indirectly participated; and acts from an infinitely better, as well as more. effective principle than ever excited the activity of any pen

in proper barracks, and though in truth soldiers, perform exclusively the service of the engines in case of fire. You may see parties of them in the evening stationed at the opera, theatres, &c. &c. Trans.

* We imagine that the writer here meant to censure that anomaly in political economy, the regie des tabacs. It is well known to our readers, that government in France has the monopoly in tobacco, and derives an immense revenue from it. The whole domestic consumption of this article is supplied from its own manufactories, and no person can buy it except from the authorized venders, where he of course pays an enormous tax. The royal arms over their doors however affords a truly republican consolation, while it forcibly illustrates the value of trade, in proving that royalty itself is not shorn of its beams, even when it is found in the humble occupation of a marchand de tabac. Trans.

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sioned gendarme. Society will always assume this aspect of energetic simplicity when the laws are made by, and not for its members.

I have thus thrown out speculations on a very grave subject, which I am afraid that you may find but too crude. May I hope that you will kindly attribute the deficiency to the shortness of my residence in this part of the world, and pardon me for the almost interminable length of this prosing epistle.

I return to subjects which are much nearer my heart to the welfare and happiness of those I have left behind me; these occupy my morning and my evening reflections, and every letter which confirms them, affords me a consolation which 1 cannot express.

M

still remains with me. We are inseparable; and I enjoy the greatest satisfaction in visiting with him every object of interest, and comparing his impressions with my own. We frequently differ in opinion, and I often have to yield, owing to my imperfect knowledge of facts. We have been to see the courts of justice in company with a young barrister of our acquaintance, and were equally surprised at the want of dignity of the judges and the lawyers, in their personal appearance and demeanor, as well as pleased with an eloquent address from one of the latter. I shall write again by the next packet. Embrace my dear sister and all the family for me. Adieu, je vous embrasse mille fois tous, et je suis pour la vie votre fils devoué, VICTOR DU C

SONNET.

Solo e pensoso, i piu deserti campi—Petrarca.
Lonely and lost to rest, o'er desert plains
With slow and silent pace afar I stray;
My shrinking brow still bending to survey
If man's rude step my solitude profanes.

Nor other home, nor better hope remains

To hide me from the gaze of all away;

For tears and struggling sighs too well betray
The fire within that feeds upon my veins.

And now where'er I rove, I fondly deem

That glade and glen, lone hill and mountain-stream
Know of my life what none may know beside.

Yet den so distant, waste from man so wide
I have not found, but Love is by my side
In converse still with me, and I with him.

O. P. Q.

301

Report from the Secretary of Finances, January 3, 1825. mittee of Ways and Means. 1825. pp. 40.

the Preasury, on the state of the Read and referred to the ComWashington. Gales & Seaton.

Ir was not till after our January number was published, that the annual report of the Secretary of the Treasury was transmitted to Congress. On the communications from that department, of December 14, 1824, proposing a discrimination between foreigners and American citizens in the payment of duties at the custom-house, we have heretofore indulged in a cursory remark ;* and we are happy to find, from the inquiries which we have made among merchants, that the Secretary's project is properly understood by that important class of our fellow-citizens.

As a means of oppressing trade, and giving a monopoly to those who have invested their capital in manufactures, in preference to employing it in commerce or agriculture, an attempt was made, at the last session of Congress, to withdraw from the merchants the facilities which have, from the origin of the government, been accorded to them in the payment of duties. To say nothing of the obligation incumbent on every state to make its taxes bear as lightly as possible on the people, and to place out of view the unconstitutionality of imposing duties, or collecting them in any way not necessary to produce the revenue requisite "to pay the debts and provide for the common defence and general welfare of the United States," the sole ground on which imposts can ever be established by Congress, the peculiar condition of the American people offers many arguments in favor of the present credit system. Some of the objections to the proposed alteration might be obviated by the warehousing system, to which we shall presently have occasion to refer. But, as long as the capitals of individuals continue small, and no alteration in that respect can ever take place to any extent, while our statute of descents operates as a true "agrarian law," business must be principally transacted by those who would find it extremely inconvenient to make advances to government, before they themselves have received any portion of the proceeds of the merchandize, out of which the duties must be satisfied. With respect to any risk to the revenue, from allowing the accustomed credit, it may be remarked, that government can scarcely be said to be exposed to those losses by bankruptcy and insolvency, to which traders

* Vide page 228. Vol. II. No. X.

+Const. U. S. art. 1. s. 8. 39

are subjected. The legal priority of the United States is effectually secured, and if it be competent for the different states, in any case, to pass laws absolving a debtor from his obligations, they can never do any thing to release either the principal or surety of a custom-house bond. The Secretary has himself put to rest all discussion on this subject:

"To require the prompt payment of duties, would certainly prevent any loss in future; but it would probably diminish the amount of duties in a greater proportion than it has diminished by the loss actually sustained under the credit system. It is also probable that the amount of duties would be diminished by shortening the credits, inasmuch as the length of the credit for the duties operates as an encouragement to importations. With a view, therefore, exclusively to the revenue, it is believed that no advantage would result from abolishing or curtailing the credits now given for duties."*

The advocates of the measure alluded to, tell us that the government constantly lends a large capital to the commercial interest. Duties on importations are not taxes on merchants only, but on the consumers, that is to say, on the whole peoplc. If they did affect importers alone, it would really be a singular perversion of terms, to regard credits as a favor to them, from whom the whole revenue for the support of the public establishments of the nation would, by the supposition, be derived. It would amount to this: that instead of exacting from the merchants a large portion of the value of their goods the moment the ship reached the wharf, the government had magnanimously agreed, on their giving such security as put at rest all fears of eventual loss, to afford them a credit of a few months, to enable them to sell some of the articles imported before satisfying the claims of the Treasury. We are not the friends of any particular class. It is the interest of the consumers-of the whole nation, that we wish to have consulted. The greater the facilities of business, the cheaper will commodities come to the consumer. Every tax levied on an article, foreign or domestic, is ultimately paid by the last purchaser. Imposts are collected in a manner less harassing than excise or internal taxes. This constitutes the sole ground of preference for that mode of raising a revenue, and in consequence of the government's obtaining their taxes from the importer before the merchandize has undergone the various exchanges necessary to bring it into general use, the profits by the different dealers are successively estimated upon the value of the articles increased by the duties. Thus every suit of clothes costs considerably more by reason of

*First Report, Dec. 14, 1824.,

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