Parliament. 2 7 



believe the Americans superior. That a band of men 

 so remarkable as to cause surprise to other nations will 

 promptly arise whenever there is real work to do, no 

 one who knows the American people can doubt ; but no 

 man of real ability is going to spend his energies 

 endeavoring to control appointments to the New York 

 Custom House, any more than he will continue very 

 long to waste his time discussing Manchester sewage. 

 Much as my English friends dislike to believe it, I tell 

 them that when there is really no great work to be 

 done, when the conflict between feudal and democratic 

 ideas ends, as it is fast coming to an end, and there 

 is no vestige of privilege left from throne to knight- 

 hood, only vain, weak men will seek election to Par- 

 liament, and such will stand ready to do the bidding of 

 the constituencies as our agents in Congress do. But 

 this need not alarm our English friends ; there will 

 then be much less bribery before election and much 

 less succumbing to social court influences after it. 

 The brains of a country will be found where the real 

 work is to do. The House of Lords registers the 

 decrees of the House of Commons. The House of 

 Commons is soon to register the decrees of the month- 

 lies. Both these things may be pronounced good. In 

 the next generation the debates of Parliament will 

 affect the political currents of the age as little as the 

 fulminations of the pulpit affect religious thought at 

 present ; and then a man who feels he has real power 



