human
Of the immense importance of local liberties, and their actual deficiencies among us, I became fully convinced during six years' residence in Manchester; but it is only from Mr. Toulmin Smith's works (the most important political work, as to me appears, which the nineteenth century has produced in England) that I have learnt the immense resources of the Common Law of England, and that nothing but the arbitrary encroachments of Parliament at this moment hinders a vigorous local legislation and local government under the fullest local freedom which can be desired.
gpt
[the italics are my own].
human
Our own history for many centuries shows that this is quite consistent with the existence of a central power--a Crown Parliament--_for all purposes truly national_; and if the action of the central power were strictly limited to such things, the provinces would, now more than ever, have abundant room for high ambition. He shows how all organization has been lost in large provincial towns, even though meetings are held from time to time, and men _seem_ to come together for counsel and combination of ideas; the only really fixed