Alexandria daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1803-1808, 1804-01-17

sntitied to. I shcwcdby ny vote my own
.oDinlon and wishes to be IN favor OF the
person who was elected-and IN as mucn,
as / believed, he would be more acceptable
10 the majority of our fellow citizens out of
doors, and more especially to those IN that
portion of the union, from whence l came,
and Of whose opinions and feeling | could
Judge most correctly-insomuch | acknow-
ledge. that / should have regretted and
deemed it misfortune, if the election had
terminated differently. But, sir, | could
not then suppose, nor do yet think, tha.
the salvation and political happiness OF the
republic, depends.so entirely on the electi-
on of any one man as president, however
great or good he might be-nor could |
persuade myself, that itwould be,so mon
strous and terribletan event in an elective,
vet complicated governmentlike ours-.if
oftwo individuals brought forward by pre-
cisely the same description of electors, to
|. fill the two first Offices under the govern
ment, that one of them, whom they were
supposed to hold up for the second Office
(and consequently in caseof accident to the
other to supply his place and be to all in
tents and purposes chief magistrate) should
have been preferred by their political oppo-
nents, and through their means have in the
first instance been constitutionally elected
to the highest Office well know that OF
the two federal gentlemen whom | had O.
rignallv advocated, although / should no
doubt have given preference myself to
the one vet shoGld have been perfectly
satisfied to see either of them put at the
head Of the government, had they had the
|. majority and equal votes, for ] repeat it
again, cannot persuade myself that the
political salvation of the republic depends
upon the election of any one man as Presi-
dent. TO me indeed it appeared during
the whole course of the election, that there
was one result far more to be deprecated,
and which might have given rise to conse-
quences beyond the ken OF human fore
sight. Frequently shuddered at the idea,
that it might possibly happen from the en-
thusiasm ofparty zeal, the violence ofpar-
tv preiudices and the irritation Of the mo-
ment; that neither side would give way,
and the country might be left in sort of
interregnum, without executive officers,
or perhaps any constitutional meansto OBJ
tain them, and it has often struck me as a
peculiarly fortunate circumstance, that the
contest was between two individuals origj-
nally brought forward by electors of the
same political description and not between
the favorite candidates Of the two opposite
! parties, each supported by his immediate
party friends. In my humble opinion, the
great desideratum, the only thing neces-
sary to be done, is to make some provisi-
on, which would ensure In such or any O.
| ther case in which the election OF the exc
cutive devolved on the House ofRepresen-
tatives, that selection of one or other Of
| the candidates should take place before the
house separated, or its political dissolution
took place, or that if an election did not
take place, one of the candidates, in con-
sequence of superior age orwhatever other
cause Of preference might be deemed most
eligible, should of course be the President;
! have not however touched upon the late
| contested election, in the intention Of dis
! cussing the pro and con with respect to the
| relative merits oft, neither is it my inten-
tention to deny the abstract proposition,
| that the will and the wishes of the people
ought to be consulted in elections-I wish
only to shew that this alterations -even al
lowing it for amoment to be desirable yields
but partial remedy, to partial and COM
paratively speaking trivial and temporary
inconvenience.whlst we leave most aw-
full and very possible event unnoticed and
ungarded against.
| Ny further Object has been, to recall to
The recollection of this Houie and as far as my
I feeble voice avails of the nation at large, that