and convinced of the perfection and unalterableness of the British
Constitution. Captain Hamilton, who wrote in 1833, was more frank in
avowal of a purpose[15]. He states in his preface:

"... When I found the institutions and experiences of the
United States deliberately quoted in the reformed parliament,
as affording safe precedent for British legislation, and
learned that the drivellers who uttered such nonsense,
instead of encountering merited derision, were listened to
with patience and approbation by men as ignorant as
themselves, I certainly did feel that another work on America
was yet wanted, and at once determined to undertake a task
which inferior considerations would probably have induced me
to decline."

Harriet Martineau, ardent advocate of political reform at home, found in
the United States proofs for her faith in democracy[16]. Captain Marryat
belittled Miss Martineau, but in his six volumes proved himself less a
critic of America than an enemy of democracy. Answering a review of his
earlier volumes, published separately, he wrote in his concluding
volume: "I candidly acknowledge that the reviewer is right in his
supposition; my great object has been to do serious injury to the cause
of democracy[17]."

The fact was that British governing and intellectual classes were
suffering a recoil from the enthusiasms leading up to the step toward
democracy in the Reform of 1832. The electoral franchise was still
limited to a small minority of the population. Britain was still ruled
by her "wise men" of wealth and position. Meanwhile, however, just at
the moment when dominant Whig influence in England carried through that