it covered, which greatly enriches the soil. It has been known sometimes (though rarely) to overflow and ebb in six hours' time, but in a much less quantity.

"There is neither river nor lake anywhere in that part of the country, and it is above six miles from the sea. There are very near it several much lower valleys, in which there is no appearance of water, unless a little rain-water collected in a pit, in the fissure of a rock, or the like."-Phil. Trans. 1738, 40, p. 360.

What, indeed, becomes of all the water that falls on this area, is a question admitting of a good deal of speculation. No river-at least no stream at all worthy of the name of a riverflows, sub dio, out of it; and, although the upper waters of the Fergus may, to some extent, be derived from the eastern margin of the district, the volume of that river is quite inadequate to the drainage of so large a surface. At present the flow of water, wherever it goes to, lies deeper than it formerly did, as appears by the drying up of many springs and turloghs, this of Kilcorney among the number. The scarcity of water is, indeed, at present a serious evil in many parts of the barony. At Kilfenora, the town well, covered in by Donatus Mac Donogh, in 1687, "by episcopal permission," as a Latin inscription informs us, is so scantily supplied in summer, that the water has to be caught guttatim in cups and porringers.

Close to Kilfenora is one of those stone-plashed, Cyclopean fortresses similar to Dun-Angus, called CaherFlaherty. Its dimensions are not comparable to those of the great Arran citadel; but the arrangement of the ramparts and the distribution of the stone caltrops, if I may use the expression, in the space between the body of the fortress and the outer circumvallation, are the same. Kilfenora is a small and declining place. "The reason," said my guide, in his Irish idiom, "that is leaving the poor so badly off in this place, is the goodness of the land." And it is quite true. The land is so excellent for pasturage, that it cannot be had for tillage. The rock

surface here has almost entirely disappeared, and the eye ranges, refreshed, over wide tracts of green, dotted with sleek herds, but barren of that first and most important of all produce, a comfortable peasantry.

In descending from Carn to Kilfenora, the road leads by the fine old castle of Leimaneagh, or Horseleap, the chief residence, until within the last century, of the feudalized O'Briens. They appear to have levied toll here, as well as on several of the other leading roads in the vicinity. The pillars of their gates are still standing in three or four places. One of the O'Loghlens, that race whose hereditary mission it seems to have been to curb the ambition of the dominant family, resented this encroachment on the public rights, and, at the head of a sufficient force, probably the last private levy for a warlike purpose ever made in Ireland, prostrated the gates and established the freedom of these highways ever since. The lords of Leimaneagh have left behind them an unenviable character for tyranny, and their ladies have not been more fortunate in their reputation for female virtues. The name of the place has fastened on one of these princesses the principal part in a terrible tragedy, terminating with the escape of her intended victim by a wonderful leap of his horse; but every castle of Horseleap has the same story, and the name for a locality is not an unusual one.

Kilfenora possesses one very fine sculptured cross, and several other objects of antiquarian interest; and the whole of the parish of Noughaval, in which it is situated, abounds with monuments of pagan and early Christian times; but by this time I apprehend the reader will have had enough of antiquities, and will not be indisposed to see his travelling companion safely established on the mail-car to Ennistymon, whence a similar conveyance will carry him to Milltown Malbay, and a two hours' further drive deposit him, a stouter, if not a wiser, and certainly not a sadder man, for his ramble, at Kilkee. S. F.

VOL. XLI.-NO. CCXLIV.

2 M

"Our decrees,

WHEN America threw off the yoke of England, and appeared (as one of England's greatest poets, perhaps too flatteringly, describes)

"A Pallas armed and undefiled,"

it was shortly discovered that a spirit had been raised, over which the exoreist had but small control. Inflated with pride, the majority of the people could not be brought to tolerate mo derate views of constitutional government; abhorring everything connected with the name of Britain, and utterly disgusted with any notions savouring at all of antiquity, they recoiled from the hereditary ideas of the mother country, and sneered at her timehonoured institutions. The spirit of private interest ruled; and the only means of satisfying the ambitious cravings of individuals, was to proclaim a democracy, so that each man, considering himself, Dei gratiâ, one of the SOVEREIGN people, might quietly fall down and worship in his own person the lawful successor of his deposed Majesty, George III.

66

The spade of reform was called for to level every little antique excrescence, and to batten it down. Supremacy of kings and parliaments" had been undermined, and had fallen to the level of a "supremacy of the people." The Church, the law, primogeniture, grades of society, were all squeezed flat, and nothing further remained but to keep the heavy-shod multitude dancing on the graves, lest those ancient spectres should once more arise to affright the land.

This last recreation the citizens of the United States heartily enjoy. The

middle of the nineteenth century beholds them sedulously keeping down all attempts at a resurrection of English customs, laws, manners, and ideas.

Most people are aware that America is a republic consisting of a number of states, which, although they regulate their internal affairs, are yet subject to federal control.

The legislative power in each state is vested in a governor, senate, and representatives; while that of the Union is vested in a President and Congress, consisting of senators and representatives.

The frame-work of the federal government may be said to be analagous to that of the government in each state. In details, however, differences exist.

The senate and assembly of delegates in each state are elected by the same people in the same way. The senatorial body is always smaller than the other; it is generally elected for a longer period. In some instances the senate and representatives only meet biennially, as in the cases of Louisiana and Florida. In these two states, the senate are elected for four years, the representatives for two. In others, as in the State of New York, they meet annually; the senate being elected for two years, and the representatives for one.

Congress, as has already been said, also consists of a senate and house of representatives. The senators may be said to represent states; the representatives, people.* Congress regulates the number of people returning a representative. While New York

sends thirty-four of these, the State of Delaware sends only one to Congress.

Neither assembly has precedence; but the senators are chosen for six years, the representatives for two. Measures must pass through both houses, but may be introduced in either one or the other. At the head of the senate is the Vice-President of the United States, who, however, has only a casting vote; and at the head of all stands the President, but without a vote, and excluded from Congress. The chief magistrate has, however, his veto; still, a majority of twothirds against him will render it of no avail. Elected by the people, he is responsible to them. Power he has none, but he retains some shadow of regal authority in being invested with the nominal command of the army and navy, and in possessing a certain amount of patronage.†

When it has been stated that municipal bodies, counties, townships, &c., manage their own internal affairsthat the state legislature only concerns itself with the interests of the state; and that Congress regulates only the federal business-as, for instance, foreign relations, post-office regulations, import duties, sale of public lands, &c., a sufficient outline will have been given to gratify the uninitiated with a slight insight into the mysteries of government in the far-famed transatlantic republic.

Let us look for a moment at the political position of some of the different functionaries.

With regard to the President; in the first place, he is elected by the popular voice.

Many evils necessarily attend elections of this kind. In no country is the great body of the people properly qualified to judge of the merits of the candidate who comes before them to court their suffrages. It is quite impossible, indeed, that the lower classes of society can enjoy such a degree of enlightenment as to be safe from the influence of the demagogue, who is ever on the watch to turn to his own

account those prejudices which are the natural companions of poverty and indigence, and which must ever haunt the humbler walks of life. Penury will always look askance at wealth; and it is but reasonable to expect, that men who follow those trades and call. ings which, so far from being connected with ideas of dignity, are rather associated in the mind with what is low or contemptible, may sometimes regard with envy the distinctions of their more fortunate fellow-mortals. What, then, is the result to be expected from elections of this kind? That the best men will be raised to power? On the contrary, there is too much reason to fear that, in most cases the artful and designing intriguer the man destitute of principle or manly independencethe man who will not hesitate to work upon the blind jealousies and brooding animosities of the low and the ignorant, and who will stoop to the grossest flatteries to effect his purpose-there is reason to fear that this man will be the successful candidate.

In vain is it asserted, that the superior education and enlightenment of the American population obviates all difficulties, and renders the system with them not only safe, but desirable. As to education in the United States, it is not carried to such an extent as some would have us suppose. As far as reading, writing, and arithmetic go, the majority have perhaps made some degree of proficiency. But there are many lures from the path of learning; and although much public money is expended on public instruction, there is reason to believe that, beyond the bare rudiments of knowledge, little is taught. Those speculative urchins whom the traveller sees running over a wide-spread territory in search of a livelihood, show but too plainly that primer, slate, and copybook are early discarded, and that the school of the busy world is considered the best seminary for the youth of America.

As to enlightenment, in no country in the world, perhaps, are the great body of the people less open to reason, or more swayed by prejudice.

That

this is the case, a brief perusal of their public journals, or a moment's attention to their favourite speakers, will show.

To learn the results of popular election, alike on the elector and the elected, in the United States, and to discover that integrity and independence must be largely sacrificed on the part of the individual who seeks the favour of the multitude, we have only to glance across the water when the presidential election is going on. Every stimulant, no matter how injurious, is applied to the popular mind, and national vanity and malignity are alike recklessly excited, if suited to the exigency of the moment.

That a system false in theory should fail also in practice, is not surprising. It would be an easy task to prove that America does not elevate her best men to the highest offices of state. Nay, so far from elevating her best men to stations of honour, we should rather say that she degrades what she should exalt; that she robs her natural nobility of its escutcheons, privileges, and dignity, and obliges the hearts" pregnant with celestial fire," to keep pent up within, that genial warmth which might have glowed to the lasting benefit of society.

It

With respect to the limited period for which the President is elected, it must be said, that the advantages derived from this provision of their constitution are very questionable. cannot be denied, first of all, that a periodical revolution is by this means entailed upon the country. Scarcely have the contentions of party subsided, before the whole drama has to be reenacted; and the war of opinions, the strife of tongues, and the fierce clashings of rival factions are again stirred up, to the distraction of domestic affairs, and to the peril of public order.

Whether we contemplate the fact, that when the President sinks into obscurity, a whole tribe of officials share his fall, and a new set, probably unacquainted with the conduct of public affairs, rise up in their stead; whether we consider the unsatisfactory position in which he is placed by the reflection, that in a very short time he must resign his post in favour of a successor entertaining, perhaps, opposite opinions; or whether we look upon his four years of public service as a term devoted (as it too commonly is)

to the purpose of courting popular favour (not without a view to re-election), we cannot fail to observe most palpable defects, counterbalanced by very few advantages.

"Why, then," it may be asked, "do not evils so great effect their own cure?" To this it may be replied, that the system is in some measure indebted for its present stability to the feebleness of the power entrusted in the hands of the executive. In their dread of regal authority, which goes so far as to divest the high magistrates of all insignia of office, and of all those accompaniments of state, which, though trifling in themselves, are the natural pageantry of constituted authority the Americans have cherished every kind of device and contrivance which may humiliate those who personate "the powers that be." Like Oriental despots, they will have none about their court who will not humbly bow to a supreme will. "Vox populi vox Dei," is thundered in the ears of the servants of the public, and at their peril will they disregard it.

He, then, who has been nurtured beneath the sceptre of an Old-World monarchy-who has imbibed the prejudices of his forefathers, and has been taught to believe that "There's a Divinity doth hedge a king" must surely contemplate with something akin to indignant surprise the position of the American President, for, in sober truth, he possesses less independence than any of those citizens of that republic of which he is the nominal head.

Obliged to stoop to every low artifice to win the popular applause-condemned to go with the tide, which he is unable to stem-shut out from the debates of the legislative assemblies without prerogative, and actually liable to be tried for treason-what is he but the creature of the multitude?

Everything is so arranged as to keep him in remembrance of his servitude. The generous spirit of the constitution has taken care to rob him of the dignity which it so liberally confers on every private individual. It is the proud boast of the American citizen, that he is "just as good as the President," and that he disdains to uncover his head, or touch his hat, to the representative of royalty.

So far, indeed, from appearing solicitous to pay a courteous deference to