Such  a  process,  repeated  at  short  intervals,  supposes,  and
to  be  safe  requires,  great  general  intelligence  among  the
people,  and  great  order  and  fairness  in  the  manner  of  con-
ducting elections.  It  requires,  also,  as  an  essential  condition,
the  quiet  acquiescence  of  the  whole  people  in  the  result  of  an
election.
The  defeated  party  must  submit  peaceably,  otherwise  the
evils  of  a  disputed  succession,  which  is  nothing  less  than  civil
war,  will  surely  follow.  The  ballot-box  is  the  American  sub-
stitute for  the  European  principle  of  hereditary  right.  The
ballot-box  designates  the  person  entitled  to  possess  the  coveted
bauble  of  power  here,  just  as  birth  does  in  England  and  else-
where. But  if  the  decision  of  an  election  be  disregarded,
then  Avould  commence  the  reign  of  violence  here  just  as  it


254  THE    TRIAL    OF    THE    CONSTITUTION.
would  in  England  were  an  attempt  made  to  set  aside  the  law-
ful heir  to  the  Crown.
Since  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  we  have  had  sixteen
Presidents;  and  though  it  cannot  be  said  that  the  elections
have  been  entirely  free  from  fraud  and  violence,  they  have
not  been  marked  by  flagrant  or  dangerous  examples  of  either.
