86 ADVENTURE IN A STAGE-COACH. [CHAP. VI. 



dependent of such attacks, love their ease or their books, and from 

 indolence often abandon the field to the more ignorant ; but I 

 met with many optimists who declared that whenever the country 

 is threatened with any great danger or disgrace, there is a right- 

 rninded majority whose energies can be roused effectively into 

 action. Nevertheless, the sacrifices required on such occasions 

 to work upon the popular mind are so great, that the field is in 

 danger of being left open, on all ordinary occasions, to the dema 

 gogue. 



When I urged these and other objections against the working 

 of their republican institutions, I was sometimes told that every 

 political system has its inherent vices and defects, that the evil 

 will soon be mitigated by the removal of ignorance and the im 

 proved education of the many. Sometimes, instead of an argu 

 ment, they would ask me whether any of the British colonies are 

 more prosperous in commerce, manufactures, or agriculture, or are 

 doing as much to promote good schools, as some even of their most 

 democratic states, such as New Hampshire and Maine? &quot;Let 

 our institutions,&quot; they said, &quot;be judged of by their fruits.&quot; To 

 such an appeal, an Englishman as much struck as I had been 

 with the recent progress of things in those very districts, and 

 with the general happiness, activity, and contentment of all 

 classes, could only respond by echoing the sentiment of the Chan 

 cellor Oxenstiern, &quot; Quam parva sapientia mundus gubernatur.&quot; 

 How great must be the amount of misgovernment in the world 

 in general, if a democracy like this can deserve to rank so high 

 in the comparative scale ! 



Oct. 10. In the stage coach, between Franconia and Ply 

 mouth, in New Hampshire, we were at first the only inside 

 passengers ; but about half way we met on the road two men 

 and two women, respectably dressed, who might, we thought, have 

 come from some of the sea-ports. They made a bargain with the 

 driver to give them inside seats at a cheap rate. As we were 

 annoyed by the freedom of their manners and conversation, I told 

 the coachman, when we stopped to change horses, that we had 

 a right to protection against the admission of company at half 

 price, and, if they went on further, I must go on the outside with 



