The Sheriffs have been from the beginning officials
of great dignity, commanding popular respect and confidence.
So if it were difficult to enforce the law the character of
the Sheriff was a great force on its side. But in the case
of these particular laws persons of less dignity and authority,
often quite obscure when they are appointed, whose whole duty
is odious to the persons to be affected by it, instead of
giving dignity to the law tend to make it unpopular by their
attempts to enforce it. Indeed in my opinion the Massachusetts
Constitution of 1780 was as nearly a perfect system of government
as was ever devised. Some changes in it were made necessary
by the separation of Maine. I suppose the abrogation of the
provision that every man should pay a tax for the support
of public worship somewhere was demanded by a public sentiment
it would have been impossible to resist, and undoubtedly the
aggregation of population in the large cities and towns required
a change in the system of representation. But I think the
old method of electing Senators, where it was necessary that
a man should have a reputation through an entire county to
be chosen, to be better than the system of electing them by
small single districts, and I think the slight property qualification
was highly useful as a stimulant to saving and economy.
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