No work has hitherto been published for the purpose of contrasting the results of democracy in America with those of monarchy and aristocracy in England. The present appears to be a favourable opportunity for calling public attention to the subject.
A reasonable doubt cannot be entertained that, sooner or later, democracy will prevail all over the civilised world—it is the spirit of the age, and no human power can resist its progress for any considerable length of time. And yet the people of Great Britain and Ireland have paid scarcely any attention to this subject. It is time for us to throw off our lethargy, and become alive to the actual condition and tendency of society in this and the neighbouring communities.
There is but one country in the world where democratic institutions have been fully tried on a large scale-viz., the United States of North America. There, then, we must direct our attention, if we would learn the true character and effects of those institutions.
The example of the great American republic has very recently produced the most important results in France, Germany, and Italy, in all which countries the glorious effects of self-government in America are pretty generally understood by the leaders of the people; whilst, in England, the aristocracy and their hirelings have succeeded in entirely diverting the public mind from the contemplation of the free institutions of the northern States, and the effects of those institutions upon the condition of society. English aristocrats, their dupes and satellites, are always ready to point out the condition of some of the slave States, with their Lynch law, inhumanity, and immorality, and to exclaim, "Behold the consequences of republicanism and democratic government!" Whereas, the truth is, that all these evils are