386 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION 



particularly heterogeneous materials of great specific 

 gravity known as the American Congress. This pen- 

 dulum will swing through a space of 180 miles, be- 

 tween Annapolis and Trenton ; but even the most eru- 

 dite mathematician will be unable to calculate its true 

 line of movement, since it will describe neither a 

 straight line, nor a cycloid, parabola nor hyperbola, but 

 will go its own crooked way. 



These and many other similar anecdotes should 

 plainly enough show that this sovereign Assembly gets 

 no especial reverence nor, outwardly, any great honor 

 in America. But in a political aspect as well, it ap- 

 pears from other circumstances that the Congress has 

 neither the necessary weight nor the requisite solidity. 

 It is therefore, in the very restricted compass of its 

 activities, exposed to all manner of grievous vexations. 

 It was to be expected of a people so enthusiastic for 

 liberty that they should grant their Congress only a 

 shadow of dignity, (a very perplexing circumstance 

 when there is a disposition to be proud), and watch its 

 proceedings with a jealous exactitude. The real busi- 

 ness and the prerogatives of the Congress, in so far as it 

 represents the common power of the United States, 

 are : To declare war and conclude peace, to raise 

 armies and give them orders, to contract alliances with 

 foreign powers, to oversee the constitutions of all the 

 states and preserve their relations to the whole ; to call 

 for and administer the revenues necessary to these 

 ends, and to make public debts. In so far its activities 

 may be compared with those of other sovereign powers, 

 the Congress being bound to exercise care for the well- 

 being and the safety of the community. But as regards 

 the application of the means requisite, there are a 



