Instability of Laws in America-Equality-The Ballot- Universal suffrage-Pledged delegates and free repre- The President of the United States-The British Sove- reign-Their ministers-Elections - Elective and hereditary monarchy-The veto-Mutual relations of the executive and the legislature in both countries -How far these have been affected in England by Judicial institutions of England adopted by the Ameri- cans—Juries—Independence of judges--The supreme court of the United States-Can the religious instruc- tion of a country be adequately provided for without PREFACE. THESE discourses were originally prepared for a literary association at Bristol, designed chiefly for the improvement of young men, by means of a select library, and lectures given by clergymen and gentlemen who take an interest in the institution. The author was afterwards invited to deliver them elsewhere; and to the numerous and most respectable audience, at whose request they are published, he has to apologize for the delay caused by his acceptance of an invitation from the principal inhabitants of Newport, in Monmouthshire, to repeat the course there, at the close of autumn. But he has thus been enabled to extend and illustrate it, by a reference to recent documents and very important events. Great Britain and America having been reunited in amicable bonds, every sincere patriot and philanthropist will desire that their concord may be perpetual, and will mingle his aspirations for the welfare of both countries. An Englishman, how careful soever, to derive his knowledge of the institutions of the United States, from the best sources, should be apprehensive of error. But having thus endeavoured to guard against fallacy, it is his privilege to state unreservedly his honest convictions. The author's design was, to compare our limited monarchy with the greatest modern republic, not in order to disparage either, but to elucidate both to a popular audience of his own countrymen. That plan would have circumscribed the limits of this work, even had he possessed the leisure and the ability to execute it in a manner more worthy of the theme. But in its present form, it may perhaps be read by those to whom a more costly and elaborate treatise would not be accessible. The subject has an intrinsic claim to attention. It embraces a variety of topics, both entertaining and important, and historical truths of immense practical value, concerning which the people are deeply interested and too often misled. These pages are especially dedicated to the youth and to the working classes of this kingdom. May they be happy in justly appreciating our national institutions, in cherishing true liberty and rejecting its counterfeits. CLIFTON, 13th December, 1842. INTRODUCTORY. LECTURE I. Discovery of America and contemporaneous events-Common origin of the British and American people and their institutions-Primitive character of the colonists and their final separation from the mother country-important differences in the condition of the two nations-The American constitution was planned by Congress, is a legislative experiment, and is not a precedent to be followed by this country. THE invention of printing, the Reformation, and the discovery of America, occurring in the order of Divine Providence very near the same period, combined to produce the most important and beneficial results to mankind. The art of printing, by which thought is transmitted rapidly and extensively from mind to mind and from age to age, performed its noblest office as an auxiliary to the Reformation. And after the Reformation had made considerable progress, the religious differences which arose in England, led many of our ancestors to seek an asylum in the recently-discovered continent of North America. Thither they carried the reformed doctrines, which are now professed by millions of their descendants in the new world, and are propagated by their missionaries in various parts of the globe. B The discovery of America tended, in connection with other causes, to render the moderns more original and more independent of antiquity. It opened a wide field for geographical and scientific discovery, for mercantile adventure, and daring enterprise. To the young, the hopeful, the disappointed, the ambitious, America was a land of promise, and for many generations innumerable emigrants from the civilized societies of the old world, have started forward in that ample region, in a new and more prosperous course. The Anglo-American colonies especially, have immensely extended commerce and manufactures, have changed the distribution of wealth, and modified the influence of hereditary rank and fortune in the parent state. Their successful struggle for independence had an important bearing on the political condition of European kingdoms; and to Englishmen especially, the study of their history and institutions is essential, and full of the most interesting and valuable instruction. The American continent extends almost from pole to pole; its loftiest mountains surpass the highest Alps; its lakes, resembling inland seas, supply the mightiest rivers of the earth; its immense plains of exhaustless fertility yield the various productions of tropical and temperate regions; and its climate is generally far more favourable to man than that of Asia or of Africa. Such is the magnificent abode prepared from the beginning by the all-bountiful Creator, but which was reserved till these latter days, to receive the overflowing population of the ancient kingdoms of the earth. The first settlers on the shores of the Antilles and of South America, were gladdened by the discovery of islands of extraordinary beauty, in a sea calm, clear, and sparkling beneath the glowing sky of the tropics. The peaceful inhabitants of that paradise of the South were soon subdued and enslaved, and were forced by |