The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-05-18
FRIDAY, MAY IS, 1866.
The Conditions Requisite tor Free Insti.

Inc OOuuiuOnS tteQutSite IOT free InSti-
tutions.
MR. DIsRAELI in closing the debate in the
British House of Commons against the Reform
bill, charged that that measure was conceived
in the spirit of the American Constitution,
and not in that of the English Constitution.
He said he did not Ievile American institu-
tions; on the contrary, he approved them,
because they were adapted to the country
where they were established; but he affirmed
that "none of the conditions exist in England
which exist in America and make those insti-
tutiOns flourish so eminently there" What
those conditions are he proceeded to set
forth by saying that eff he could see great
body of intelligent men in possession OF culti-
Vated land, and behind au illimitabe district,
where the landless might become landowners,
then be should see men to whom might be
intrusted the responsibility Of sovereign
powers.
Mr.. DIsRAELI's idea seems to be that
free institutions flourish so eminently" in
America because we have here SUCH an
/" illimitable district" of unoccupied land,
where the landless can become landholders.
Unfortunately for this theory, those States
in our Union where American institutions
flourish most prominently, where the exer-
else of the right Of suffrage is the most widely
extended, and republican principles are the
most thoroughly and successfully carried out
in the laws and customs of society, are those
States which are the most densely populated.
and where there are no "ill mtable DISTRICTS
of uLoccupied lands. Massachusetts has a
population of 157 to the square mile-a density
exceeding that of Scotland, and verging on
to that of England-and she has no large
bodies of wild or unoccuped lands. She has
large cities and densely populated villages in
her midst, and the great mass of her people
support themselves by handicrafts of various
sorts rather than by agricultural pursuits.
She is as essentially manufacturing COM
munity as England is. According to
MIR. DIsRAELPs theory, therefore, the con
ditions for the successful application of Ameri-
can principles are wanting in Massachusetts
and we ought to behold the attempt to apply
them there attended by some Of those fearful
consequences which he anticipates from the
attempt to apply them in England. As a
matter of fact, however, we see nothing of the
kind. We find her, on the contrary, to be
one of the best governed and moss prosperous
cOmmonweaths in the world. The most per-
feet equality OF rights prevails among her
citizens; and, instead of abusing those rights
and running into wild and licentious excesses,
they use them wisely and for the public good.
We might rest the entire refutation of the
English Tory theory of republicanism upon
the single test of Massachusetts,.
What England wants to make American
institutions possible is not land, but an in
telligent and virtuous common people. The
way to get that is TO take of the heavy
burdens, which are imposed in the interest of
and which crush the people down.
Abolish the connection between Church and
State, diffuse the blessings of education among
the masses, do away with the enormous ex-
Ienses of royalty, and the English people
would soon be fit for selt-government, if they
are not now.