considerations on government in general. He does this because he
believes, whether rightly or not, that while the American people
have received from Providence a most truly profound and admirable
system of government, they are more or less infected with the
false theories of government which have been broached during the
last two centuries. In attempting to realize these theories,
they have already provoked or rendered practicable a rebellion
which has seriously threatened the national existence, and come
very near putting an end to the American order of civilization
itself. These theories have received already a shock in the
minds of all serious and thinking men; but the men who think are
in every nation a small minority, and it is necessary to give
these theories a public refutation, and bring back those who do
not think, as well as those who do, from the world of dreams to
the world of reality. It is hoped, therefore, that any apparent
want of artistic unity or symmetry in the essay will be pardoned
for the sake of the end the author has had in view.






CHAPTER II.

GOVERNMENT.


Man is a dependent being, and neither does nor can suffice for
himself. He lives not in himself, but lives and moves and has