It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their own selfish purposes.

The sentence expresses a populist suspicion that concentrated wealth and social power can capture public institutions—shaping laws, policy, and administration to serve private interests rather than the common good. In Jacksonian terms, it aligns with the era’s rhetoric about “privilege,” monopolies, and entrenched elites, and with the broader democratic claim that government should reflect the will and welfare of ordinary citizens. The moral force of “to be regretted” frames this as a recurring civic failure rather than an isolated abuse, implying the need for vigilance, institutional checks, and political accountability to prevent government from becoming an instrument of faction or class advantage.