Mr. Tremenheere quotes largely from a work by Dr. Lieber, Professor of Political Philosophy in the State College of South Carolina.  Among others of a similar character, the following passage occurs:—­“I consider the indiscriminate pardoning so frequent in many parts of the United States, one of the most hostile things, now at work in our country, to a perfect government of law.”  He elsewhere states “that the New York Committee had ascertained that there are men who make a regular trade of procuring pardons for convicts by which they support themselves.”  Further on he says, “To this statement we have now to add the still more appalling fact, which we would pass over in silence if our duty permitted it, that but a short time ago the Governor of a large State—­a State among the foremost in prison discipline—­was openly and widely accused of taking money for his pardons.  We have it not in our power to state whether this be true or not, but it is obvious that a state of things which allows suspicions and charges so degrading and so ruinous to a healthy condition, ought not to be borne with.”  He then subjoins this note:—­“While these sheets are going through the press, the papers report that the Governor of a large State has pardoned thirty criminals, among whom were some of the worst characters, at one stroke, on leaving the gubernatorial chair.”—­Among the conclusions Dr. Lieber draws on this point, is the following astounding one—­“That the executive in our country is so situated that, in the ordinary course of things, it cannot be expected of him that he will resist the abuse; at least, that he will not resist it in many cases.”

The foregoing extracts are certainly entitled to no small weight when it is remembered they come from the pen of a republican professor, writing upon “Civil Liberty and Self-government.”  I do not pretend to say that such gross cases as those referred to by him came within my cognizance during my travels, but I most certainly did hear charges made against governors, in more than one instance, of granting pardons through corrupt influence.

I have now given a cursory review of the leading features in the executive of the United States; and I have endeavoured, while doing so, to point out the effects which the gradual inroads of the democratic element have produced.  The subject is one of the deepest interest to us as Englishmen, inasmuch as it is the duty of every government to enlarge, as far as is consistent with the welfare of the nation, the liberty of the subject.  The foregoing remarks on the constitution of the United States appear to me conclusive as to one fact—­viz., that the democratic element may be introduced so largely as that, despite a high standard of national education and worldly prosperity, its influence will produce the most pernicious effect upon the government of the country.