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assembly numbering usually from one hundred and fifty to two hundred thousand, was 

 required to make a choice ; this giving to each individual a veto on his election. So, 

 likewise, every member of her Diet — the supreme legislative body— consisting of the 

 king, the senate, bishops and deputies of the nobility and gentry of the palatinates, pos- 

 sessed a veto on all its proceedings, thus making an unanimous vote necessarj' to enact 

 a law, or to adopt auy measure whatever. And, as if to carry the principle to the 

 utmost extent, the veto of a single member not only defeated the particular bill or meas- 

 ure in question, but prevented all others, passed during the session, from taking effect. 

 Further, the principle could not be carried. It, in fact, made every individual of the 

 nobility and gentry, a distinct element in the organism, or, to vary the expression, made 

 him an Estate of the kingdom. And yet this government lasted, in this form, more than 

 two centuries ; embracing the period of Poland's greatest power and renown. Twice, 

 during its existence, she protected Christendom, when in great danger, by defeating the 

 Turks under the walls of Vienna and permanently arresting thereby the tide of their 

 conquests westward. 



" It is true her government was fiually subverted and the people subjugated, in conse- 

 quence of the extreme to which the principle was carried ; not, however, because of its 

 tendency to dissolution from weakness, but from the facility it aflbrded to powerful and 

 unscrupulous neighbors to control, by their intrigues, the election of her kings. But the 

 fact, that a government, in which the principle was carried to the utmost extreme, not 

 only existed, but existed for so long a period, in great power and splendor, is proof con- 

 clusive both of its practicability and its compatibility with the power and permanency 

 of government. 



" Another example, not so striking indeed, but yet deserving notice, is furnished by 

 the government of a portion of the aborigines of our own country. I refer to the Con- 

 federacy of the Six Nations, who inhabited what now is called the western portion of 

 the State of New York. One chief delegate, chosen by each nation, associated with six 

 others of his own selection— and making, in all, forty-two members— constituted their 

 federal or general government. When met, they formed the council of the union, and 

 discussed and decided all questions relating to the common welfare. As in the Polish 

 Diet, each member possessed a veto on its decision, so that nothing could be done with- 

 out the united consent of all. But this, instead of making the Confederacy weak or Im- 

 practicable, had the opposite effect. It secured harmony in council and action, and with 

 them a great increase of power. The Six Nations, in consequence, became the most 

 powerful of all the Indian tribes within the limits of our country. They carried their 

 conquest and authority far beyond the country they originally occupied." 



(o) The essay of Bacon, "Of Innovations," which follows, is almost too familiar to be 

 quoted, but the true principles of reform are nowhere so admirably and wisely ex- 

 pressed : 



" Time is the greatest innovator, and if time of course alter things to the worse, and 

 wisdom and counsel shall not alter them to the better, what shall be the end ? 

 It is true, that what is settled by custom, though it be not good, yet at least it is fit ; and 

 those things which have long gone together, are, as it were, confederate within them- 

 selves ; whereas new things piece not so well ; but, though they help by their utility, yet 

 they trouble by their inconformity ; besides, they are like strangers, more admired and 

 less favored. All this is true, if time stood stUl : which contrariwise, moveth so round, 

 that a froward retention of custom is as turbulent a thing as an innovation ; and 

 they that reverence too much old tunes are but a scorn to the new. It were good, 

 therefore, that men in their innovations would follow the example of time itself, which 

 indeed inuovateth greatly, but quietly, and by degrees scarce to be perceived ; 

 for otherwise whatsoever is new is unlooked for; and ever it mends some and pairs 

 (injures or impairs) other ; and he that is holpen, takes it for a fortune, and thanks the 

 time ; and he that is hurt, for a wrong, and imputeth it to the author. It is good also 

 not to try experiments in States, except the necessity be urgent, or the utility evident ; 

 and well to beware that it be the reformation that draweth on the change, and not the 

 desire of change that pretendeth the reformation ; and lastly , that the novelty, though 



