But although these three elements can never be wholly separated—it does not follow that men, who desire to be well-governed, should not try to separate them and to keep them separated as far as they can. Still less, that because they cannot be wholly separated, they shall therefore be encouraged to run together and to crystalize into a mischief that may never be resolved again but by the process of decomposition. And now, I contend that, in effect, We, the People of these United States, are governed by an Oligarchy; and that, by being allowed to choose our own masters—provided we choose them, or at least, a large majority of them, out of a particular class—we are blinded to the inevitable consequences: till we mistake words for things, and shadows for substances: and that our mistake is all the more dangerous and alarming that we cannot be persuaded to treat the matter seriously. I contend, moreover, that, inasmuch as the Lawyers of our land make all the laws; and as Judges expound all the laws, and as office-holders carry all the laws into execution, therefore they constitute of themselves the Sovereign Power. Are the facts questioned? In the Massachusetts legislature, we have had two hundred and sixty lawyers out of three hundred and fifty members; and in congress we had not long ago, the same number, two hundred and sixty lawyers out of two hundred and ninety-seven members—the balance being made up in this way. Manufacturers and farmers, fifteen: Merchants, one: Unknown, (being mechanics or preachers, or something of the sort,) twenty-one. Perhaps there may be some error here, as I find the only note I have upon the subject so blurred, that I am not sure of the figures; but the fact on which I rely is too notorious to be questioned. Every body knows that lawyers constitute a large majority in all our legislative bodies, and have done so for the last fifty years; and that they make about all the speeches that are made there, or supposed to be made there, and afterward reported by themselves for the newspapers. Can it be doubted therefore, that they as a body do in fact and in truth constitute our supreme legislative power—thereby absorbing to themselves just one third part, and by far the most important part of our whole sovereignty as a people. As little can it be seriously questioned that, inasmuch as all our judges, from the highest to the lowest are lawyers; or ought to be, as they are always ready enough to acknowledge—they constitute the supreme judiciary; another third part of our whole sovereignty as a people.