Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Wayne County, Ind.) 1831-1837, 1837-03-11

|orms. and consolidate all actual power mi
the hands cfthe possessor. Let Us see wnaI
',as been said upon this. by one OF the most
,cute and able writers upon this, or any oto-l
er subject; and one too, who was no enemy
to strong government. ! allude to DIR. PaI-
ey. In his chapter upon political Phiiosc-
phy. and in giving his views upon the British
he lays it down, that. ~Whenl
the Constitution conferred upon the crown i
the nomination to all employments in the
public service. the authors Of this arrange
ment were led TO it by the obvious prepr'eey
of leaving to q master the choice OF his ser.
wants: and by the manifest Inconvenience OF
engaging the national council. upon every
vacancy. "a those personal contests which at
tend elections to places Of honor and emo'u-
meat. Our ancestors did not observe that
this disposition added an influence to the re-
gal Offices. witch, when the number and val.
lue Of public employments increased, wouio
lsupersede, in a great measure, the forms, ana
lchanoe the character Of the ancient Constr
tuition. They knew not what the experience
and reflection Of modern ages has discovered
that patronage Is, universally, power-that
he who possesses, in sufficient degree, the
means Of gratifying the desires of mankind
after wealth and distraction, by whatever
checks and forms his authority may be limi-
ted or disguised, will direct the management
/ of public affairs.-WhatevSr be the mechan-
ism of the political engine, he will guide the
motion" Sir, these are the maxims OF WIS.,
dom and experience. We have seen that the
! King Of Great Britain, even since the revo-
Tuition of 1858, has, by the sole power OF pat
|ronage, been able several times to annihiate
the independence of Parliament, and to rule
with absolute sway. How the spirit Of En-
|glishmen has, as often broke the power OF
corruption and reestablished the government
T|upon its free foundation, We have already
seen. Sir. human nature is the same in this
NEW world. that it is in the old. Patronage
is the same in its power to seduce and its II
ability to abuse; and the same jealous vigi-
Hence is demanded in this country to prevent
the consolidation Of all power in tho hands
of the Executive.
The abuse of patronage, Mr.. Speaker, and
every other individual evil Of which / COM
plain, it was supposed by our ancestors, when
they framed and adopted the Constitution,
would no sooner become known than they
would be redressed by the ballot box-the
|, panacea Of the Constitution; but, sir, in the
language of Mr.. Jefferson, ''the constitutional
remedy by the elective principle" has ''be-
come nothing, because it is smothered by
the enormous patronage Of the General Gov
Iernment." Ii is to me, sir, matter Of real
wonder and amazement, that a degree Of a
buse in the administration Of the patronage
Of the Government, should excite no partic-
|ular alarm at this day, which but eight years
ago, would have caused such a comCaotion in
the land as must inevitably have terminated
in revolution, if no other remedy could have
been applied. Undoubtedly, many causes
peculiar to the times have combined to pro-
duce this extraordinary result--the unrivall-
ed popularity Of the President-the blunder of
opposition in relation to Notification and the
United States Bank; but the most subtle,
powerful and successful element Of evil, has
been the introduction Of the spoils principle,
las an avowed and defensibIc incentive to
party association and party service-the dis
grace of American politics. 1t will be per-
|ceived. and must be Acknowledged, that this
principle is founded upon the abuse of pat
|ronage. 1t can have no existence or opera
ton, but in the abuse of patronage. The
doctrine is, that ali the public Offices and en-
IPIoyment belong, as matter of right, to the
successful party in contest, and should be
distributed among them in the same manner
that the spoils, whether Of lands or goods,
Iplundered from a conquered people in war,
belong to and ought to be distributed among
the victors. 1t Is impossible that a princs-
pie so odious and tyranical, and one which
has been discarded as dishonorable, and a
Egainst natural law. even in war, among civ
iiized nations. could have received the sane
ton of any respecta bic portion of the people,
If they had not been deuded and their conf
dence abused by their favorite; if the princi-
pie itself had not been arrayed in the guises
of patriotism. And accordingly we find that
such was the fact. The people have been
told that their best friends, and the only true
patriots, were eontending against powerful
combination to change the character and adj
miration of the Government from a govern
ment of the people into an ar,stocracy-al
government OF, and for the rich only. The
President, as we have already seen, conde-
scended to give his sanction TO this artifice.
by charging that the supporters of Judge
White, in Tennessee, were ~attemptine toI
undermine our republican system.o Uponl