e by an act of supererogation sent a less an actual war should exist;” that is to nessage of "objections" to the House say, unless war should be authorized by Conpresentatives, when he knew well that gress or declared by Mexico. Notwithstandnot in the power even of two thirds ing these acts, Mr. Polk, by the agency of h Houses to make it a law. We beg his Secretary of War, gave the order already aders to consider the vastness of this adverted to, and it is manifest on its face , exercised sometimes by abuse and that he and his Cabinet regarded it as a imes by usurpation-the power to de- seri-belligerent measure, as will appear by neasures of urgent necessity, and to the following extract: "It is not designed r null great principles of public policy-in our present relations with Mexico that o ponder well on the consequences, you should treat her as an enemy, but should not a substantial revolution by th ese she assume that character by a declaration s been effected in the structure of the of war or any open act of hostility towards nment? It has been well said that the us, you will not act merely on the defensive, s here reprobated have rer.dered what if your relative means enable you to do ntended to be only "ths medicine of otherwise." This measure was preeminently onstitution, its daily food." adapted to provoke "a declaration of war by Mexico, or some open act of hostility" on her part. May a President do this on his sole authority? If so, then in vain has the war power been by the Constitution exclusively vested in Congress. t we must hasten to the consideration e do not propose to consider at this 66 And what aggravates the case essentially is the fact that Congress was at the date of the order in session, but Mr. Polk did not deign to take the advice of that body. What aggravates it still more is the conviction which all candid men must entertain that if Congress had been consulted it never would have concurred in the measure. We will not speak with confidence of the House of Representatives, but refer most emphatically to the Senate as containing several distinguished mebers of the Democratic party, who were conservative in all matters appertaining to our foreign relations, and who would have been sure to veto this deplorable movement. We would be understood to indicate Mr. Calhoun and Colonel Benton as belonging to this class, who resisted strenuously Mr. Polk's Oregon policy, and who did perhaps more than any body else to preserve to the United States and Great Britain the inestimable blessings of peace. We do not hesitate to pronounce this act of Mr. Polk a stupendous usurpation, and it enables us to reiterate our original proposition, that the President (under Democratic sway) holds in his hand the issues of peace or war. But it is not necessary for a President to transcend his legitimate authority to involve the country in a war. The right of negotiation and the powers of diplomacy belong to him exclusively, and it is easy to see he may pursue such an irritating, not to say hectoring course toward a foreign power, as to render war inevitable. | little benefit to the country because we have The people of this country are martial in not been able to control to its fullest extent their instincts; they are fond of arms, and the action of the two Houses of Congress. brave to a proverb. Any Chief Magistrate, But even in the halls of legislation that by exciting the prejudices and arousing the memorable victory has not been without passions of the nation, may have war ad some fruit. Have we not carried through libitum. It is fearful to think of the con- the two Houses, at the late session, a highly trol which a bad man in the Presidency may important River and Harbor Bill; and is it under this head of administration exercise not manifest that the measure was extorted over the destinies of the country. from the Democracy by fears which the last canvass inspired? Moreover, the popular arbitrament had opened the White House to a statesman who knew his duty too well to veto the will of the Legislature on the snbject of rivers and harbors. In short, we have obtained, in the form of legislation, nearly all that we desired except a modification of the tariff of 1846, and even that we may extort (should the two Houses remain in the hands of the opposition) by results this year not less brilliant than those of 1848. And here is the proper place for adverting to the many advantages which have in this connection resulted to the Republic by the elevation of Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore successively to the Presidency. Their administrations have been eminently pacific. While they have vindicated the right of the nation and upheld the honor of our flag, they have preserved the peace of the country; they have preserved it both externally and internally, and this alone is sufficient to cause the memory of the one to be revered, and the name of the other to be honored, now and at all times. And what would have been the event if Gen. Lewis Cass, the great war-hawk of the Senate, had been called to the Presidency in 1848? Have we any assurance that our national peace would have been maintained for a single year? Would the obligation of treaties have been asserted, and our neutrality laws enforced; would the many turbulent spirits (mostly foreign adventurers) to be found within our borders have been held in check; and would aggressions on the territory of a nation with which we are at peace have been sternly repressed? How would he have treated flibustiering in Cuba, and what would have been our condition if ten thousand men had been thrown on that island from the Gulf coast? The slightest intimation from the Executive of impunity to such lawless proceedings, or even the belief that they would be winked at, might have kindled the flame of war between the United States and several of the leading powers of Europe. Even a slight examination of the senatorial and diplomatic career of Gen. Cass must convince every one that his policy would have been belligerent, and hence it is impossible to over-estimate the importance and value of the results in 1848. And here we would reprobate an idea in which even Whigs have sometimes indulged, that those results have been productive of But it is in the Executive department mainly we find the advantages to which every Whig can refer with pride and satisfaction. The reins of government have been held with a firm and steady hand, and we have had in succession Chief Magistrates who have been faithful to the Constitution, to the laws, to the cause of "peace on earth and good-will among men," to our glorious Union, and to the confidence reposed in them by a great and generous people. But we have digressed, and will return at once to the line of discussion originally proposed, by considering the third cause which has contributed to the enhancement of Executive power,-and here we advert to the subject of patronage. It is well known that during the first ten Presidential terms, viz, two of Washington, one of Adams (the elder), two of Jefferson, two of Madison, two of Monroe, and one of Adams (the younger), covering a period of no less than forty years, the practice of dismissing the employees of the government for opinion's sake was to tally unknown, unless a few removals made by Mr. Jefferson constitute an exception. The whole number of removals from the commencement of Washington's administration to the close of that of J. Q. Adams was only 114, and over one half of these were made by Mr. Jefferson soon after his acces sion to the Presidency. J. Q. Adams made only four removals, and these were strictly for cause. But at length the period antici by Patrick Henry arrived, when the f the nation became the chief of a arty. On the fourth of March, 1829, Jackson entered upon the discharge luties of the Presidential office, when, ed by his resentments and circumby the wiles of a political magician, induced to transplant the spoils sysm Albany to the unaccustomed soil of ngton. Here it struck its roots deep e earth, threw abroad its branches, on overshadowed the whole governwith its luxuriance. It has been by of this system that other elements of f have been strengthened and reinthat the veto has been made so efand destructive; that large bodies of nd even States, have been induced to n their opinions on great questions of policy-in one instance suspending rs appropriations indispensable to our ing interests, and in another overg the encouragement of our domestic y, regarded as an object of the first ance in the earlier and better days of public. Where were the Democracy sylvania before the spoils system was ced on the subject of protection, and are they now? And what but the ents of office, and the love of place wer, could have induced some of her stinguished sons to betray, in 1844, I interests by the imposture of "Polk, Texas, and the tariff of '42?" What =system has produced the loquacity wo Houses of Congress, and rendered tterly powerless for purposes of good? else has occasioned scenes of disorder, netimes even of violence, in our halls lation, adapted to suffuse the cheeks ry true-hearted American with a Why is it that, so soon as one ntial election is over, a multitude rants rush into the arena, and comstruggling for positions from which ope to vault into the Presidency; we ask finally, have we occasion to such a surprising degeneracy of s and morals, and why such an oss of that dignity and elevation of er which uniformly marked the course ic men during the earlier Presidential Indeed, we regard the subject of ge as the Pandora's box from which nanated nearly all the evils which now the body politic. Not the least of these, we repeat, is the enhancement of Executive power, particularly when the government is in the hands of a bad man; a consideration of the very first importance, which should be incessantly present to the mind of every citizen when called to the duty of vot ing for a Chief Magistrate of our country. And here we will step aside for a moment to repel the reproach of inconsistency frequently cast on the Whig party, in respect to the matter now adverted to. We believe that the sentiments here avowed are universally entertained by the leading statesmen and well-informed men of the great conservative party with which it is our pride and pleasure to act. If you regard (exclaim our opponents) the "spoils system" with so much disapprobation, why do you conform to its behests, on accession to power? Why did you make such extensive removals in 1841, and then again in 1849? Ah! do these interrogators suppose they are to be indulged in a monopoly of place and power? When they carry an election, are they to take all the places because they are for the system, and when we and our friends carry one, are they to retain them all because we are opposed to it? As well might a man be forbid the use of a deadly weapon in self-defense, because he entertained and inculcated sentiments of opposition to deeds of bloodshed and violence. But an adequate remedy is at hand. Let the authors and originators of this detestable system abandon it; let them return to the rule of moderation, and listen to the accents of justice; let them recognize merit wherever it exists, and whatever may be its political aspect; and let them say to the Whig in office who has proved himself "honest, capable, and faithful to the Constitution," "Well done, good and faithful servant;" and we will guaranty a response of like generosity and liberal appreciation from those who not only profess, but practise, sound republicanism. In short, we insist that the so-called Democracy are responsible, not only for the introduction, but for the continuance of this evil; and all imputations on the Whig party in this connection are alike unfounded and impudent. But if we could reduce the power of the Executive within its original limits, and if we had no occasion to apprehend a repetition of abuses, such as we have depicted, still we should have, in the vast expansion tory (appertaining to the last forty years) which does not contain a record of his actions and of his life; there is not a page from which his great and good name does not flash out in all the effulgence of heroic daring and of consummate statesmanshipa name which is the pride of every true American, and the admiration of the world. We unhesitatingly leave Winfield Scott and his pretensions to the arbitrament of an en of our territory, in the rapid growth of our population, and in the enormous increase of the resources of the country, and of the revenues and expenditures of the government, all calling for the performance of corresponding duties, and imposing corresponding obligations and responsibilities, ample reasons for magnifying the Presidential office. Washington ruled over three millions of people: the next President of the United States must rule over twenty-five millions at least. Wash-lightened public sentiment. We refer his ington presided only over the cis-montane great services, both in the cabinet and in portion of the United States; a strip of ter- the field-the prudence, moderation, sense ritory comparatively narrow, and lying with of justice, firmness, clear discernment, and in the St. Croix on the north, and the St. never-fading sagacity which he has disMary's on the south: the next President played in some of the most difficult positions must extend the sceptre of authority from of civil life, and the vigor, enterprise, skill, the St. Lawrence to the Rio Grande, and fortitude, and unflinching bravery which have from the Atlantic to the Pacific. And Wash- ever marked his course in the field-to the ington, by the influence of his great name and judgment of a just and generous people. character, held only thirteen States within He is before them in all the admirable protheir proper spheres; but our next Chief Ma- portions of a character such as the country gistrate must keep no less than thirty-one has seldom seen, and he and his friends may States true to their position and faithful to fearlessly abide the result. the attractions of our glorious Union. We have indulged in this train of remark in order to prepare our readers for a proper estimate of the great crisis before us. Within a brief space of time, the American people are to decide how the Executive department of our government shall be filled and constituted for the period of four years from the fourth of March next. They are to say whether lofty intelligence, unquestionable abilities, unspotted integrity, unalloyed patriotism, generous impulses, a just appreciation of the true interests of the country, and a lively sense of its proper destinies, are to rule the hour, or whether the mediocrity of a mere provincial reputation, and the contractedness of a character whose aims have been directed no higher than to objects of mere partisanship, shall administer the affairs of a free people; or, in other words, whether WINFIELD SCOTT or FRANKLIN PIERCE shall be the next President of the United States. But we are constrained to turn to a very different picture; one which must be view ed by every competent judge with other emotions than those of satisfaction; one got up and presented to the country by the artists of Democracy in the earlier days of June; and the question is whether it is fit to adorn the walls of the White House. There perhaps never was a political assemblage the results of which were more entirely committed to chance, than the late Democratic National Convention. There was never such a complete political lottery drawn before. After an unexampled struggle between men who have occupied the first positions in the government-between ex-heads of departments, ex-foreign ambassadors, ex-senators, and senators de facto et de lege, and some with all these characters united-all at once, in the twinkling of an eye, Franklin Pierce turned up with the Presidential card in his hands, and then the exclamation instantly burst from thousands of lips, Who is Franklin Pierce? Fortunately, we are relieved from the necessity of entering into any expositions to And well was that question put; appro establish the claims of the former to the re-priate and just was the astonishment of the spect, the confidence, and the affections of nation. We reiterate it-Who is Franklin his countrymen. Fortunately, his name, his character, and his public services are as familiar to the millions who throng our territory as "household words." Fortunately, there is not a bright page of American his Pierce? Where are the evidences of his statesmanship, and where the records of his public services? We learn, indeed, that he was several years a member of Congress, first of the House of Representatives, and afterwards of the Senate; but what benefi- | the city of New-York, ruined by the desola cent or useful measure did he propose, ad- tions of 1836; who would not recognize the obligations of the country to those citizens "who were engaged in wars with the Indians subsequent to the Revolution," nor of "the organized militiamen, mounted militiamen, and rangers, who defended the frontiers during the late war with Great Britain;" who would not admit the propriety of favoring the hardy pioneers of the West, in the matter of preemptive rights, and of a reduction of the price of the public lands; who has opposed himself strenuously to the policy of fostering the industry of the country; and who has manifested, on every occasion, an uncompromising hostility to appropriations for harbors and rivers, and to every form of internal improvements? Was there either originality, dignity, or ability in his course? Did he display any expansion or liberality of views? Were his aims high and his purposes noble? Did he consecrate all of his faculties to his country, and appreciate properly the responsible duties of an American legislator? On the contrary, we do not hesitate to declare, that there is no where to be found a more barren or even repulsive record than that which exhibits the Congressional career of General Pierce. No where else is there to be found so thoroughly developed all the indications and expressions of low partisanship. He is incessantly found on the mean side of every question; and if any one will examine That he regards with great disfavor any (as we have) the journals of the two Houses, attempt to augment the national wealth, and he will be deeply impressed with this truth. to make us truly independent, by so arrangBut those records not only reveal great illib-ing duties on imports as to place the loom erality and contractedness of disposition, but highly perverted views of public affairs. They prove that he belongs to the anti-progressive school of politicians. and the anvil in proximity with the plough and the harrow, appears from a resolution (the emanation of his own pen) submitted to the Democratic State Convention, held at His is the stand-still, the do-nothing policy. Concord, N. H., on the 11th of June, 1846. He apparently holds that government is Should he therefore be called to the Presiconstituted only to take money out of the dency, we cannot for a moment indulge the pockets of the people, and to hand it over to hope of any modification of the chimerical the cormorants of office. The moment any tariff now in force; a tariff of universal ad thing beneficent is proposed, any thing ad-valorem duties; a tariff of constant evasion apted to promote the well-being of the toiling millions, he hesitates and stumbles, not to say, faints. There is a lion in the way: the Constitution forbids it, yea, the Constitution! which, according to a certain class of public men, ever admits what they desire, and is opposed to what they dislike. and incessant fraud, such as was never before found on the pages of the statute-book, and involving a policy every where else repudiated by the civilized world. This act fraught with such incalculable evils, has been recently denounced by Colonel Benton in appropriate terms. Is it fit and proper that one of its avowed advocates, now put forward by the votaries of (so called) free trade, should be elevated to the Chief Magistracy, only that we may dismiss every hope of a modification during the next Presidential term? Can it be possible that such a man is about to be called to the Chief Magistracy of this great country? Can it be possible that the American people will elect as their President one who was so prejudiced as to vote against granting to the American Colonization Society the privileges of the Hall of the House That he is equally hostile to every form of of Representatives; who, from a similar feel- national improvement, we find evidenced by ing, would not concede to citizens of the Dis- the journals of the two Houses while he was trict of Columbia corporate powers for "be-in Congress, almost page by page. To no nevolent purposes;" who would not admit the just claims of Mrs. Harrison, widow of the excellent William Henry Harrison, to some consideration at the hands of Congress, and who endeavored to return her penniless to her desolate home; who would not make the slightest concession to the merchants of purpose does the storm-tossed mariner appeal to him for relief. To no purpose does the citizen speak of the rock-bound coast and inaccessible harbors, nor of the perils of our lakes, of our rivers, and of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts-to all he turns a deaf ear. The wild cries of men, women an |