Page:Memoir upon the negotiations between Spain and the United States of America which led to the treaty of 1819.djvu/126

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��which it may be added, that they are not exempt^ from the influence of the Executive, nor of the peo- ple, as experience has shown, by their partiality in the causes of piracy brought before the tribunals and juries of Baltimore; a thing which no unpre- judiced Anglo-American will dare to contradict, if he really entertains a love for his country. I will conclude this part of my subject by remarking, that although the judiciary, from the confusion of the laws and the prevailing vices of forensick practice, do not prevent the evils for Avhich their institution is designed, they act in a separate sphere, neither dependent upon, nor holding any intercourse with, the other two powers. This branch, therefore, can have no part or inllucnce, as I have said, in the struggle or conflict w hich exists between them, from the very nature of the constitution, and which must every day become more and more general, in pro- portion to the progress of corruption in manners, and the height to which ambition and other power- ful passions are carried in a young country.

The people are generally well instinicted in all the principal points that concern iheir interests, in the progress of the government, and in many of the dangers to which the Republick is exposed. The periodical papers and gazettes which inundate the country, show all this to the publick, well or ill, ac- cording to the views of the editors, or according to the party or passions they espouse. The govern-

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