Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1826-03-02


the popular favorc. They will do this upon
principles as certain in their operation gravita-
ton The man who is conscious that he is the
choice of the People. stands firm and inflexibe in
the confidence Of his own strength. You cannot
approach him. He disdains to negotiate. He
feels his title TO be strong, and confidently reposes
uponit. All the other candidates naturally regard
him as the obstacle that stands most in the way OF
their hopes United by their very feebleness, they |
defeat the will of the Nation. For accomplishing |
this object the mode OF voting here affords extra
ordinary facilities. We vote by States. The ma
tural course of things will throw the whole power
of the combination upon the small States. single
member is more easily brought into the arrangement
than ,hirty-sx. 1t may thus happen that less than
forty members of this body, will elect the Piesi-
dent. This strong probability that the Pesident
will be chosen by a small minority OF Congress,
demands the most serious and solemn considera-
| ton.
| Under what circumstances 10 you call him TO
the discharge of the high duties OF his office: You
place a sceptre in hand which has not energy TO
WELD it. The unav odabe consequence Will be,
that the whole patronage of his administration Will
| be perverted to the purpose OF sustaining ana
Strengthening his popularity. lie comes INTO power
under circumstances that create poiitical heces-
| sity of acting in this manner. Destitute OF the
confidence of the People, he must feel that this
| patronage is his power. This view OF the SUBJECT
conclusive objection to the interference OF this
| House in the eection-its tendency TO corrupt the
| Legislative body.
Corrupt Congress, and you assail liberty in the
very seat OF its vitality.
| But, sir, we apt to treat the idea OF our own
| compatibility, as utterly visionary, and 10 ask,
| with grave afecta:ion of dignity, what? do you
| think member of Congress be corrupted!
Sir, speak what I have long and deliberately
considered, when | say, that since man was created,
there never has been apolitcal body on the face
of the earth that would be corrupted under the
same circumstances. Corruption steals upon US
in thousand insidious forms, when we are least
aware of its approaches. OF all the forms In
which it present itself, the bribery of office, is
the most dangerous, because it assumes the guise
of patriotism to accomplish its fatal sorcery. We
are often asked, where is the evidence OF corruP
ton? Have you it /? Sir, do you expect to
see it? You had as well expect to the embodied
forms Of pestlence and famine stealing before you
as TO see the latent operations Of this insidious
power. We may walk amidst it and breathe its
contasion, without being conscious of its presence
All experience teaches the irresistible power OF
temptation, when vice assumes the form of virtue.
The great enemy of mankind could not have con-
summated his internal scheme for the seduction OF
our first parents, but for the disguise in which he
presented himself Had he appeared the Devil,
In his proper form had the spear of Ithuriel dis
e closed the naked deformity of the fend of Hell,
the inhabitants of Paradise would have shrunk with
horror from his presence But he came as the in
snuating Serpent, and presented beautiful apple,
i the most delicious fruit in all the garden. He told
his glozng story to the unsuspecting victim Of his
guile &c 1t can be no crime 10 taste of this de-
lightful fruit. 1t will disclose to you the know
ledge ofgood and evil. 1t will raise you to an equa
lity with the Angels Such, sir, the process;
and in this simple but impressive narrative, we
have the most beautiful s. philosophical illustration
of the fralty of man, and the power Of temptation
that could possibly be exhibited. Mr.. Chairman,
u have been forcbly struck with the similarity be-
tween present situation and that of Eve after
1t was announced that Satan on the borders OF
Paradise. We, too, have been warned that the
, enemy is on our borders. But God forbid that the
similitudeshould be carried any further Eve,
Gus of her innocence, sought temptation and de6ed
1t. The catastrophe is too fatally known JUS ALL
1 She went, 4" with the blessings of Heaven on her
head, and its purity in her heart,' guarded by the
E ministry OF Angels-she returned covered with
4 shame, under the heavy denunciaion of Heaven s
everlasting curse.
Sir, ii is innocence that temptation conquers. II
our first parent, pure she from the hand OF
E God, overcome by this seductive power. let
US not initiate her fatal rashness, by seeking temp
tation, when it is in our power TO avoid it. Let us
not vainly cOnfide in our inability. We are
e liable to be corrupted. To ambitious man, an
l honorable office will appear as beautiful andascina
ting as the apple of Paradise.
L admit sir, that ambition is passion at once
The most powerful and the most useful. Without
1t, human affairs would become mere stagnant
!, pool. by means OF his patronage, the President
e addresses himself in the most irresistible manner
to this the noblest, and strongest of passions
All that the imagination can desire; honor, power
n wealth, ease, held out as the temptation. Sir
n man was not made to resist such temptations 1t is
impossible to conceive, Satan himself could not
! devise system which would more inlallibly in.
troduce corruption and death into our political
Eden. Sir, the Angels fell from Heaven with les.
TEN ptation
q That cannot, then, be a wise political organiza-
ton, that requires reis temptations TOO strong
either for men Angels.
The political truths have advanced will be full
iy sustained by the authority ofhisory. Look back
sir into the vast &dreary solitude of past ages &
read the epitaphs which impartial history has in
scribed on the tombs of fallen republics What is
the melancholy lesson they teach US? That no free
e Government has been overcome by force but all
by corruption If we ever lose our liberties, which
God forbid this will be the euthanasis of t., Re-
public. While the extent of our territory exempts
US from the extinction of our liberties by popular
violence, it increases the only other catastrophe TO
which we can be exposed, the concentration of
power in the Executive.
There is no instance in history Of Chief Ex-
ecutive Magistrate elected by a small body of
men, where the most gross and undsgused corrup-
ton has not ensued. We have seen the hardy vir-
tues OF Rome sink under the experiment. In the
I same city in which the first Brutus swore by the
reeking blood of the violated Lucre;a, to exter-
: inmate every vestige of monarchy from Rome,
we have seen infamous band of Pretorian Co
norris rush to the ramparts, and proclaim that the