In short, I see nothing in the
executive force (I cannot call it authority) that has even an
appearance of vigor, or that has the smallest degree of just
correspondence or symmetry, or amicable relation with the supreme
power, either as it now exists or as it is planned for the future
government.
You have settled, by an economy as perverted as the policy, two*
establishments of government- one real, one fictitious. Both
maintained at a vast expense, but the fictitious at, I think, the
greatest. Such a machine as the latter is not worth the grease of
its wheels. The expense is exorbitant, and neither the show nor the
use deserve the tenth part of the charge. Oh! but I don't do justice
to the talents of the legislators: I don't allow, as I ought to do,
for necessity. Their scheme of executive force was not their choice.
This pageant must be kept. The people would not consent to part with
it. Right; I understand you. You do, in spite of your grand
theories, to which you would have heaven and earth to bend- you do
know how to conform yourselves to the nature and circumstances of
things. But when you were obliged to conform thus far to
circumstances, you ought to have carried your submission further,
and to have made, what you were obliged to take, a proper
instrument, and useful to its end. That was in your power. For
instance, among many others, it was in your power to leave to your
king the right of peace and war.
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