“I think with you that the extension and multiplication of such proceedings and Acts of Parliament is a grave constitutional peril, as I have said elsewhere. I think it of the greatest importance that the constitutional iniquity implied in the Contagious Diseases Acts should be fully exposed to the eyes of the whole country. It is one of the dangers of popular government that the people lose their proper suspicion of the executive and their reverence for constitutional bulwarks.”—Letter from Sheldon Amos, Esq., Professor of Jurisprudence. Footnote 101: I may just quote further the solemn words to which the king was compelled to give his signature, which are contained in this guaranteeing clause of Magna Charta: “Whereas for the honour of God and the amendment of our kingdom, and for the better quieting the discord that has arisen between us and our barons, we have granted all these things aforesaid; being willing to render them firm and lasting, we do give and grant our subjects the underwritten security, namely, that the barons may choose five-and-twenty barons whom they think convenient, who shall take care with all their might to hold and observe, and cause to be observed, the peace and liberties we have granted them, and by this our present Charter confirmed; so that if we, our justiciary, our bailiffs, or any of our officers, shall in any circumstance fail in the performance of them towards any person, or shall break through any of these articles of peace and security, the said barons shall”—and here follows the account of the prosecution to which the king agrees to submit himself. Footnote 102: Whether as they may exist under a limited monarchy, or, as in America, under a President. Footnote 103: The celebrated Count Oxenstierna, Chancellor of Sweden, one day when his son was expressing to him his diffidence of his own abilities, and the dread with which he thought of ever engaging in the management of public affairs, made the following Latin answer to him: “Nescis, mi fili, quantulâ sapientia regitur mundus”—“You know not, my son, with what little wisdom the world is governed.” A young Member of Parliament, recently elected, remarked to me one day: “When one gets into Parliament, one sees that a great nation is after all like an old goat whom anybody may lead by the beard!” Footnote 104: _Democracy in America_, vol. iii. chap. 6. Footnote 105: _Democracy in America_, vol. iii. p. 297. Footnote 106: _Democracy in America_, vol. ii. p. 115. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 88 PRINCES STREET, _Edinburgh, Feb. 1st, 1871_. EDMONSTON & DOUGLAS’ LIST OF WORKS