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Show 58 as if we had but begun our journey. Our great men desire to connect their names with this vast country ; and humble individuals, whether wisely or not, derive from it a feeling of importance. The poor man, in voting, feels that he is exercising, in part, the sovereignty of an immense realm. There is more of the imagination, than of the heart, in the sentiment now unfolded, but it is real, and it is no frail bond of national union. Another cause of Union may appear to foreigners less serious than it really is. We hold together, because we know not where to break off. Neighbouring States are too much allied in feelings and interests and domestic bonds for separation, and no State is willing to occupy the position of a frontier. Our union is every day gaining strength by the increased facilities of intercourse, which place distant parts of the country side by side, and are interweaving almost as closely the interests and affections of remote States, as of those which border on each other. The subtile steam, made up of mutually repelling particles, and melting in a moment into air, has become to this country a cord stronger than adamant. Providence seems to intend to give us the physical means of binding together a wider region, than wa; ever before blessed with one beneficent sway. It also deserves attention, that the cause, which has hitherto chiefly disturbed our Union, is diminishing, if it has not passed away. I refer to the disposition of the national legislature to interfere with local interests, or to extend itself beyond the bounds of strict necessity ; thus awakening the jealousy of different sections, and giving them the notion of separate interests. This disposition is yielding, not only to the resistance of different States, but to an impossibility of its exercise founded on the nature of free institutions. Under these, government is a slowly 59 moving machine. Its wheels seem to be clogged more and more. Diversities of interests, collisions of passion, partyspirit, and endless varieties of opinion, throw almost insuperable obstacles in the way of legislation. Congress, after a long session, separates, haying hardly passed laws enough to keep the government in operation. All free States, at home and abroad, feel this difficulty ; and, evil as it seems, it has no small adyantagcs. It abates that worse nuisance, excess of legislation. By this cause, Congress is compelled to keep itself within its bounds ; for in these it finds more work than it can do. The government must be in reality, what it is in name, General, and must be as simple as consists with public safety ; and, thus qualified, why may it not hold together a mighty realm? Foreigners expect disunion from the extent of our territory, but in this we see safety, as well as danger ; for it not only flatters, as we have seen, the national pride, but multiplies the bonds of mutual interest, renders free exchange of productions and friendly intercourse vastly more profitable, and, at the same time, checks that despotic power of party leaders, those simultaneous excitements, those passionate movements, that concentration of all the energies and feelings of the people on a single point of controversy, by which free States of narrower dimensions are convulsed. From these remarks it will be seen, that I partake little of the nervous sensitiveness of a portion of the people, on the subject of the Union. Undoubtedly, it is exposed to perils, which may turn these hopes and prophecies into illusions. The experience of life teaches us to be prepared for the worst. Our present prosperity seems too unparalleled to endure. But loose, vague fears, ought not to disturb us; nor should they be propagated, because they often oerve to fulfil themselves. The truth is, that we arc a people singularly |