The offices

After all has been ^is said, ^^however, it ^^{the work of establishing and raising the character of cities, of course,} remains at last and eventually with the people ^^themselves.—Strictly speaking they have no right to complain of being hampered and cheated and hoodwinked [illegible] overtaxed and insulted.—for they always hold the remedy in their own hands.—I am not athe man to soft‑soap the people any more than I do office‑holders—but this I say for, them at all times, that their very credulity is in some sort, a proof of their ^and perpetual confidence in others, an ^are organic signs of the most upright and beautiful noble ^^{elements of our national} character.—It remarkable that is to be said o This credulity and confidence are never the faults of the legislative bodies, however.