CHAP. VI.] LEGISLATORS PAID. 33 



he did to the aristocracy of wealth in your country. Do you 

 desire to see our people regard wealth as a leading qualification 

 for their representatives ?&quot; 



&quot; Surely,&quot; said I, &quot; it is au evil that men of good abilities, of 

 leisure, and independent station, who have had the best means 

 of obtaining a superior education, should be excluded from public 

 life by that envy which seems to have so rank a growth in a 

 democracy, owing to the vain efforts to realize a theory of equal 

 ity. It must be a defect in your system, if there is no useful 

 career open to young men of fortune. They are often ruined, I 

 hear, for want of suitable employments.&quot; 



&quot; There are,&quot; he said, &quot; comparatively few of them in the 

 United States, where the law of primogeniture no longer pre 

 vails ; and if we have good-for-nothing individuals among them, 

 it is no more than may be said of your own aristocracy.&quot; lie 

 then named an example or two of New Englanders, who, having 

 inherited considerable property, had yet risen to political distinc 

 tion, and several more (four of whom I myself knew), who, 

 having made large fortunes by their talents, had been members 

 either of the State Legislature of Massachusetts or of Congress. 

 He did not, however, deny that it is often good policy, in an 

 election, for a rich candidate to affect to be poorer than he is. 

 &quot; Every one of our representatives,&quot; he added, &quot; whether in the 

 State Legislatures or in Congress, receives a certain sum daily 

 when on duty, besides more than enough traveling money for 

 carrying him to his post and home again. In choosing a dele 

 gate, therefore, the people consider themselves as patrons who 

 are giving away a place ; and if an opulent man offers himself, 

 they are disposed to say, * You have enough already, let us help 

 some one as good as you who needs it. &quot; 



During my subsequent stay in New England, I often con 

 versed with men of the working classes on the same subject, and 

 invariably found that they had made up their mind that it was 

 not desirable to choose representatives from the wealthiest class. 

 &quot; The rich,&quot; they say, &quot; have less sympathy with our opinions 

 and feelings ; love their amusements, and go shooting, fishing, 

 and traveling ; keep hospitable houses, and are inaccessible when 



