296 MR HAMILTON ON THE PROSPECTS OF THE UNION. 



getlier ; but what statesman would legislate on the probabi 

 lity of such a condition of society, or rely on it as a means of 

 future safety? 



&quot; The general answer, however, is, that the state of things 

 I have ventured to describe, is very distant. 6 It is enough, 

 they say, for each generation to look to itself, and we leave 

 it to our descendants some centuries hence to take care of 

 their interests as we do ours. We enjoy all manner of free 

 dom and security under our present constitution, and really 

 feel very little concern about the evils which may afflict our 

 posterity. I cannot help believing, however, that the period 

 of trial is somewhat less distant than such reasoners comfort 

 themselves by imagining ; but if the question be conceded 

 that democracy necessarily leads to anarchy and spoliation, it 

 does not seem that the mere length of road travelled over is a 

 point of much importance. This, of course, would vary ac 

 cording to the peculiar circumstances of every country in which 

 the experiment might be tried. In England, the journey 

 would be performed with railway velocity. In the United 

 States, with the advantages they possess, it may continue a 

 generation or two longer, but the termination is the same. 

 The doubt regards time, not destination. 



&quot; At present the United States are perhaps more safe from 

 revolutionary contention than any country in the world. But 

 this safety consists in one circumstance alone. The great 

 majority of the people are possessed of properly ; have what is 

 called a stake in the hedge ; and are, therefore, by interest, 

 opposed to all measures that may tend to its insecurity. It is 

 for such a condition of society that the present constitution 

 was framed ; and could this great bulwark of prudent govern 

 ment be rendered as permanent as it is effective, there could be 

 no assignable limit to the prosperity of a people so favoured. 

 But truth is undeniable, that as population increases, another 

 state of things must necessarily arise, and one, unfortunately, 

 never dreamt of in the philosophy of American legislators. 

 The majority of the people will then consist of men without 

 property of any kind, subject to the immediate pressure of 

 want, and then will be decided the great struggle between 

 property and numbers ; on the one side hunger, rapacity, and 



