In Judging Of The Success Or Want Of Success Of Any Political
Institutions Or Of Any Form Of Government, We Should Be Guided, I
Think, By The General Results, And Not By Any Abstract Rules As To
The Right Or Wrong Of Those Institutions Or Of That Form.
It might
be easy for a German lawyer to show that our system of trial by jury
is open to the gravest objections, and that it sins against common
sense.
But if that system gives us substantial justice, and
protects us from the tyranny of men in office, the German will not
succeed in making us believe that it is a bad system. When looking
into the matter of the schools at Boston, I observed to one of the
committee of management that the statements with which I was
supplied, though they told me how many of the children went to
school, did not tell me how long they remained at school. The
gentleman replied that that information was to be obtained from the
result of the schooling of the population generally. Every boy and
girl around him could read and write, and could enjoy reading and
writing. There was therefore evidence to show that they remained at
school sufficiently long for the required purposes. It was fair
that I should judge of the system from the results. Here, in
England, we generally object to much that the Americans have adopted
into their form of government, and think that many of their
political theories are wrong.
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