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in than supported the Revolution of 1830; and he did so with a hesitation which indicated that, while principle remained unshaken, necessity compelled a course which his convictions reprobated.

In 1831, M. de Beaumont, his colleague in the magistracy, was removed from that position by the government; and De Tocqueville, deprived of his presence and counsel, immediately resigned his own office, and willingly retired from the annoyances of the forum. He was gratified to obtain a commission from the Interior Department, jointly with De Beaumont, to proceed to the United States for the purpose of viewing the penitentiary system. This was only the means, however, to a noble end which he had proposed to himself. He wished to see the only country in the world in which democracy had become reconciled to order and stability; in which popular education was the regulator of the political system; in which the highest degree of freedom had been made compatible with an effective police, a prompt administration of justice, and a competent form of government. It was his ambition to view our institutions as a Frenchman, yearning to find the great remedy which should cure what was beginning to be the chronic distemper of his country. It was necessary, in order to comprehend our national fabric, to come among us, to trace back every effect to its cause, to view, if possible, the operation of the system with American prejudices, and to consider with a philosophic eye "the march of ideas and feelings." While he devoted much labor to the official enterprise which he had undertaken, his main work was the study of American liberty; and he studied it not more as a philosopher, or as a theorist, than as a patriot. "America," he says, " was only the frame; my picture was Democracy."

He devoted two years, on his return, to the composition of the work which brought him, by a marvellous transition, from obscurity to renown. He had not reached his thirtieth yearwhen "Democracy in America" appeared. It was at once hailed as the result of a great mind. No European had before comprehended American liberty. No philosopher had before penetrated so far into the problem of democracy. In that work were exhibited, with a strength worthy of Johnson, VOL. XCV.- NO. 196.

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and an accuracy which Parr might have envied, the virtues and the deficiencies of popular power. The picture was not more excellent for the brilliancy of its coloring and the beauty of its arrangement, than for the symmetry of its whole, and the vividness of every part. So profound, and yet so graceful, a treatise on government has not been produced in the present century, or perhaps in any century. Frenchmen were proud that their young countryman should distance, in one of the most difficult of sciences, the ancient authorities of other nations. Englishmen were glad to see a work appear which tended to confirm a constitution sustained by an equipoise between crown and people. Americans venerated the man who, alone of all foreigners that had crossed the Atlantic, fully understood a system so much reviled in the Old World, and who had impartially and accurately discerned the merits and faults of a republican government. The book was sold with wonderful rapidity, and was translated into many languages of civilized Europe. No library was considered as complete without it. Conservatives found in its pages arguments enforcing the danger of mob government. Reformers quoted it in derogation of regal authority, and in favor of extending popular suffrage. His aim was, however, to represent to the advocates of ideal democracy and the advocates of established precedent the errors in both views; - to show that democracy without intelligence, morality, and religion, is anarchy and despotism; that democracy reconciled to "respect for property, deference for rights, safety to freedom, and reverence to religion," is composed of great and noble elements; and that the choice is inevitable between anarchical democracy and intelligent democracy. Many people," he says to Stoffels, "of opposite opinions, are pleased with it, not because they understand it, but because they find in my book, considered on one side only, certain arguments favorable to their own passion of the moment." Triumphant as was the early success of "Democracy in America," as years of experience and public disorder have passed, it has become more and more authoritative; and the prophetic wisdom, the profound logic, and the strict accuracy which dignify every page, have been tested and confirmed by subsequent events. Similar subjects

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have been discussed by men of genius on both sides of the Atlantic; but the greater part are speculatists, deriving their materials from the study of other works and the observations of other persons. They have erected formidable theories, abounding indeed in erudition and acuteness, yet lacking the test of actual experience. But M. de Tocqueville lived in the events, and observed in person the facts, from which he produced the elements of his philosophy. Superadded to an extraordinary capacity for political speculation, he possessed a vivid experience with which to exemplify and enforce his doctrines.

After enjoying a triumph in his own country, which must not only have gratified his pride, but also stimulated his hopes of reform, he visited England in 1835. There he met with a reception, from the first noblemen and writers of the age, of which he was justly proud. The elegant and courteous Lansdowne (who yet lives to adorn society and Parliament, after being for sixty years a chief of the Reform party), the polished Holland, the vivacious Macaulay, and the learned Grote, welcomed to their country one who combined grace and dignity of manner, nobility of birth, and brilliant colloquial power with a strength of intellect such as few Frenchmen have exhibited in any age. His connections with the eminent English Liberals, which then commenced, were kept intimate, as they were delightful, by means of frequent correspondence and occasional visits, to the end of his life. In all his letters, the high respect which he entertained for English institutions, and the affection with which he regarded his English friends, are apparent.

In the same year, he married an English lady, Miss Mary Mottley, to whom he had been several years attached, and who, though she brought him no fortune, seems to have appreciated his temperament and sympathized with his tastes. He constantly spoke of her with steady affection, and never took a step without resorting to her advice. In 1836, the Academy of France, proud to acknowledge the justness of his eminence, awarded a prize of eight thousand francs to his work on America. The following year found him the possessor, by a family agreement, of the ancient manor of Tocqueville. The Revo

lution of 1830 had substituted a representative government for a rigid monarchy. This change brought with it a corresponding change in the position of literary men. Little pains had been taken by the Bourbons to encourage this class; much less were they resorted to as counsellors of the crown. The sagacious Louis Philippe saw the importance with which they were regarded by intelligent men; and the result was, that poets and historians, editors and astronomers, became Ministers of Police and Ministers of Foreign Affairs. De Tocqueville, who had hitherto been known as a speculative politician, now aspired to be a practical politician. He saw the class in which he had ranked himself accepting seals of office, offering themselves for the Chamber, and representing France at foreign courts. He was now a feudal proprietor; and this advantage, combined with his literary eminence, encouraged him to enter the troubled arena. At the election of 1837, therefore, he presented himself to the Arrondissement of Valoques as a candidate for the Chamber. His kinsman, Count Molé, then at the head of the government, offered to support him with all the influence of the ministry, and without his knowledge took measures to carry the election in his favor. But De Tocqueville, with a lofty spirit seldom seen in candidates for office, manfully rejected the aid thus offered; and, the cry of "No nobles!" having been raised against him, he was defeated. Liberal as were his ideas on government, he could not induce the bigoted Norman peasantry to look beyond his birth, to his character and merit.

He now devoted himself to cultivating the esteem of his neighbors, to improving the surroundings of his villa, to the pleasing duties of hospitality, and to the continuation of the great work, the published portions of which had so abundantly rewarded him. In 1838 the Academy of Moral and Political Science did itself honor, and him justice, by enrolling his name as one of its members. The biennial election again

approached in 1839, when, so successful had he been in disabusing the district of prejudices against him, and in endearing himself to its people by the simple courtesy of his manners, he was elected by a large majority to the highest legislative position in France. He continued to represent

Valoques in the Chamber of Deputies from 1839 to the breaking up of thrones and legislatures in 1848.

He found, upon taking his seat, that the Chamber was divided into three distinct parties, the ministerial party, the dynastic opposition, and the republican opposition. At the head of the former were M. Guizot and M. Molé, and they supported the royal family then in power. The dynastic opposition were under the lead of Thiers and Odillon Barrot. They were the constitutional opposition, acquiescent in the present establishment, but opposed to the particular measures of the ministry then in place. The republicans were not only opposed to the present dynasty, but to all dynasties, and were willing and zealous disciples of the old Revolutionists. The freedom of the press had never been greater than it was at this time; consequently parties of all shades waged incessant warfare, and the fiercest fanatics did not hesitate to avow their extreme doctrines in the forum and through the press. De Tocqueville, having before his eyes the example of England, that example to which he ever tried to induce France to approximate, and from a fear that either the crown or the republicans might acquire too much power, determined to throw his influence into the balancing party, and enrolled himself under the leadership of Thiers and Barrot. While, on the whole, he considered it essential to the liberties of France to support the Orleanists at the Tuileries, he thought that a dynastic opposition would operate to restrain while it sustained, and, at the same time keeping the republicans in a hopeless minority, to force the king to a constitutional reign. While he continued Deputy, he was intrusted with various responsible duties, among others, with that of reporting, in 1839, on the abolition of colonial slavery; in 1840, on prison reform; and in 1846, on African colonization. In 1840, he issued the last two volumes of "Democracy in America," which were received with as great approbation as had greeted the former issue; and in the following year he had the gratifi cation of being elected a member of the Academy of France. As a relaxation from the severe duties of the Chamber, he travelled, in 1841, and again in 1845, through Algeria. His letters from that country are full of interest, and evince that

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