Page:Essay on the government of dependencies.djvu/14

 different dependencies, that they serve to throw much light on the expediency of this relation to the related communities; and general inferences can be drawn from them, which will materially assist in determining how far the relation is expedient in any individual case.

Whatever advantages may belong severally to monarchical, aristocratical, or democratical institutions, it cannot be overlooked that the chief nations of Europe and America now keep nearly abreast in the march of civilization, notwithstanding the diversity in the forms of their supreme governments. Moreover, it can scarcely be denied that the ulterior progress of these nations mainly depends upon the nature of the opinions prevailing among the bulk of the people; that where the public opinion is unenlightened, no political forms can be an effectual security against unwise and mischievous exercises of the powers of government; and that where the public opinion is enlightened, political forms lose a large portion of their meaning and importance.

One of the main obstacles to the formation of an enlightened public opinion, by a calm examination of important social facts and principles, as well as to the creation of habits of order, industry, and forethought, to the accumulation and diffusion of wealth, and to the gradual development of a healthier state of society, is produced by the occurrence of wars between civilized nations. Wars of