44 SHOULD THB BEAT OF GOTSBNMENT BB

These two things, the absolute control of
congress, and the absence of the elective fraor
chise wonld probably in any community, go
far to insure protection against mob influence ;
and just as far in the commercial capital as
in any other large city ; under such checks, a
great metropolis, with the opportunities it ftir-
nishes for the contact of mind with mind, and
for acquiring information in every department,
would certainly seem likely to exercise a good
influence on the legislators, and to prove, in
most cases, a ^^ strong bulwark in the cause of
freedom," rather than ^^ a powerful engine in
the hands of the oppressor," to borrow the
language before quoted of Sir James Macintosh.
