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on the contrary, and in those of Ohio and Pennsylvania, the inhabitants of each county choose a certain number of representatives, who constitute the assembly of the county[1]. The county assembly has the right of taxing the inhabitants to a certain extent; and in this respect it enjoys the privileges of a real legislative body: at the same time it exercises an executive power in the county, frequently directs the administration of the townships, and restricts their authority within much narrower bounds than in Massachusetts.
Such are the principal differences which the systems of county and town administration present in the Federal States. Were it my intention to examine the provisions of American law minutely, I should have to point out still further differences in the executive details of the several communities. But what I have already said may suffice to show the general principles on which the administration of the United States rests. These principles are differently applied; their consequences are more or less numerous in various localities; but they are always substantially the same. The laws differ, and
- ↑ See the Revised Statutes of the State of New York, Part I,
chap. xi. vol. i. p. 340. Id., chap. xii. p. 366.; also in the Acts
of the State of Ohio, an act relating to county commissioners,
25th February 1824, p. 263. See the Digest of the Laws of
Pennsylvania, at the words County-rates and Levies, p. 170.
In the State of New York each township elects a representative, who has a share in the administration of the county as well as in that of the township.
