Page:The American Democrat, James Fenimore Cooper, 1838.djvu/48

42 the independence of Texas, a measure that is purely diplomatick and international, and which, of course, ought to be regulated by treaty, and in no other manner. A step of this gravity, if referred to the proper authority, would have required the sanction of a two thirds vote in the senate, and consequently a deliberation and prudence that might do better justice, and possibly avoid a war.

ON EQUALITY.

Equality, in a social sense, may be divided into that of condition, and that of rights. Equality of condition is incompatible with civilization, and is found only to exist in those communities that are but slightly removed from the savage state. In practice, it can only mean a common misery.

Equality of rights is a peculiar feature of democracies. These rights are properly divided into civil and political, though even these definitions are not to be taken as absolute, or as literally exact.

Under the monarchies of the old world, there exist privileged classes, possessed of exclusive rights. For a long period the nobles were exempted from taxes, and many other charges, advantages that are still enjoyed by them, in certain countries. In England, even, the nobles are entitled to hereditary advantages that are denied to those who are of inferior birth. All these distinctions are done away with in principle, in countries where there exists a professed equality of rights, though there is probably no community that does not make some distinctions between the political