Virginia statesman. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1828-1829, 1829-06-17

I And do sincercl ythihk thatthis limit has,
IN both particulars been transcribed be
! yOnd all safe bounds, and so as to excite
serious apprehensions.
/ 1t is not however my opinion, but that
of President Jackson which the public has
now to consider. Having declared to the
American people, through the Tennessee
Legislature, the danger of the practice
lhaylng deliberately committed himself to
act N consonance with that declared OPIn-
ION, how he now be justified in violat-
ing this solemn pledge, and in entailing
upon his country a perilous precedent
fraught with the corrupting tendency which
he described!
it Is vain to say that the Constitution,
as 1t no stands, does not forbid these aP-
( pointTents. 1t does not enioin them. II
there be an inherent defect in the theoritl-
cal character of the instrument, President
JAG kson was bound to have redeemed his
pledge and employed the whole influence
and weight Of his name, to remedy the de-
feet, in its practical operation. The Con-
stiUtion admitted Ofthe service ofOne man,
In the Presidential office, during his life,
If ne could secure successive elections.
That great reformer, as President Jackson
describes him, whom he processes to int
tate, did not wait for an amendment OF the
Z Constitution to correct that defect; but,
after the example of the Father OF his
u Country, by declining &c, serve longer than
two terms, established practical prncl-
pie, which is not likely TO be violated.
There was another class Of citizens
upon whom public offices has been show
cred in the. greatest profuslon. l 90 not
| know the number of Editors of newspapers
that have been recently appointed, bui /
have noticed, in. the public prints, some
fifteen or twenty. And they were general
| ly of those whose papers had manifested
1 the greatest activity in the late canvass,
the most vulgar abuse Of opponents and
the most fulsome praise of their fayOrlte
candidate. Editors are as much entitled
I to be appointed as any other class Of the
community; but, if the number and quality
/ of those promoted, be such as to render
palpable the motive of their appointment;
| If they are preferred, not on account of
their fair pretensions, and their ability q
capacity TO serve the public, but because
I Of their devotion to a particular individual,
| ask if the necessary consequence must
not be to render the press venal, and IN
time to destroy this hitherto Justly cherish
ed Palladium of our Liberty,
1.-THE principle ofall these appointments |
this monopoly of public trusts-by MEM
5ers of Congress and partizan Editors
be exceptonable (and would not have
alluded TO them but from my deliberate
conviction that they are essentially vlcious)
their effects are truly alarming. Twill not
mpute to President Jackson any design to
subvert our liberties, hope and'belieye
that he does not now entertain any such
design. But l must say, that if an am
uitious President, sought the overthrow of
our government, and ultimately to estah-
Ish a different form, he would, at the COM
neucement ofhis administration, proclaim, !
by his official acts, that the greatest public |
virtue was ardent devotion to him. That
no matter what had been the character, the
services or the sacrifices of incumbents or
applicants for office, what their experience
OF ability to serve the Republic, ifthey did
not bow down and worship him.. they pos
sessed no claim to his patronage. Such
an ambitious President would say, as mon-I
archs have said, 81 am the state" Hel
would dismiss all from public employment
who did not belong TO the true faith. HeI
would stamp upon the whole official corps
of government one homogeneous charac-
ter, and infuse into it one uniform prlncl-
ole of action. He would scatter, with an
open and liberal hand, offices amongmem-
hers of Congress, giving the best TO those
who had spoken and written and tranked
most in his behalf. He would subsdIze
the pYess. It would be his earnest and
constant aim to secure the two greatest
engines of operation upon public opinion,
Congress and the Press. He would pro-
mulgate a new penal code, the rewards
and Dunishrqents Of which would be dis
tributed and regulated exclusively by de-
votion or opposition to him. And when all
tins powerful machinery was put IN notion
If he did not succeed in subyerting the
liberties of his country and IN establishing
bimselfupon u throne, It would be because
some new means or principle Of resistance
ha6 been discovered which was unknown
in other times or in other Republics.
But iC an administration, conducted M
the manner Just supposed, did not aim at
the destruction of public liberty, 1t would
engeuder evils Of a magnitude so great as
--r.l..,M,. 4, nIinnnta ih, aliectlnns of the