68                           GRADUAL CHANGES.
carried on, and from which the heads of the executive departments are rigidly excluded. The whole powa of the government is thus absolutely and literaDj absorbed by the people, for no bill connected witl any branch of public affairs could be brought into Congress with the smallest prospect of success, whid had not previously received the initiative approbation of these committees.
It should be remembered that the power thi assumed by the people is wholly unknown to tin constitution. It is one of those important, but silent encroachments which are progressively affecting th forms, as they have long done the spirit of tin government. It is still, however, the fashion to say. if not to believe, that the' constitution remains © changed, and it is scarcely worth while to argue tb point, with reasoners who are evidently deficient either in sincerity or penetration. But if any nu> of sense and sagacity, who can be considered unbia* sed by the prejudices of habit and education, wi declare, after a deliberate examination of the workiif of this government, that all its important function*