The distinguishing quality of Parliamentary government is, that in each stage of a public transaction there is a discussion; that the public assist at this discussion; that it can, through Parliament, turn out an administration which is not doing as it likes, and can put in an administration which will do as it likes. But the characteristic of a Presidential government is, in a multitude of cases, that there is no such discussion; that when there is a discussion the fate of Government does not turn upon it, and, therefore, the people do not attend to it; that upon the whole the administration itself is pretty much doing as it likes, and neglecting as it likes, subject always to the check that it must not too much offend the mass of the nation. The nation commonly does not attend, but if by gigantic blunders you make it attend, it will remember it and turn you out when its time comes; it will show you that your power is short, and so on the instant weaken that power; it will make your present life in office unbearable and uncomfortable by the hundred modes in which a free people can, without ceasing, act upon the rulers which it elected yesterday, and will have to reject or re-elect to-morrow. In finance the most striking effect in America has, on the first view of it, certainly been good. It has enabled the Government to obtain and to keep a vast surplus of revenue over expenditure. Even before the Civil War it did this--from 1837 to 1857. Mr. Wells tells us that, strange as it may seem, "there was not a single year in which the unexpended balance in the National Treasury--derived from various sources--at the end of the year, was not in excess of the total expenditure of the preceding year; while in not a few years the unexpended balance was absolutely greater than the sum of the entire expenditure of the twelve months preceding". But this history before the war is nothing to what has happened since. The following are the surpluses of revenue over expenditure since the end of the Civil War:-- Year ending June 30. Surplus. (pounds) 1866 . . . . . . . . 5,593,000 1867 . . . . . . . . 21,586,000 1868 . . . . . . . . 4,242,000 1869 . . . . . . . . 7,418,000 1870 . . . . . . . . 18,627,000 1871 . . . . . . . . 16,712,000