The pilot. [volume] (Baltimore [Md.]) 1840-1840, 1840-05-02

oi"i5 Ia lilC JCaiOuoY d5dluo'; anu SsSh iot' SN
of, all universities and other eminent institu-
tons of learning; in the power and growing
corruption of the press; in the increasing Sc
verify of our sectional ieaIousies; in the diRin.
ished love of the Union; in the narrow HOSTILE
ty of counties to the interests Of cities; in the
intolerance sometimes manifested towards
Catholics, masuns, societies for the suppression
Of intemperancc, and for the diffusion Of Cos
pei light We further discover these evils OF
ultraism, or of Ioco-focoism, in the impoverSh
cd and unmany character Of nearly all the adj
dresses, verbal or written. made To the "sove-
reign people dealing with them as II corrupt
and silly beings, instead of sober and honest
men in pursuit of truth and of happiness.
We find these evils in the less refined and
meagre tone OF conversation; in nearly all OF
our social intercourse; in the Punishment OF
nearly all the salutary lornalities and restraints
that moderate and purify all assembIages OF
people We find them in the neglect OF the
fine arts; in the decline of the higher drama;
in disregard IF subordlnaton in courts, in
reckless Indifference to the sacreduess Of vested
rights; in numerous wild experiments of po-
| litcal economy, destructive Of commercial
prosperity; in disregard of the rights of for
eign nations; in an overweening and daily aug
mentation Of national vanity; in wild and
unprincipled coveting of new territories; in
new and merciess modes Of warfare; in the
fearful increase of sell-revenge; in a reckless
disregard of human life; in open and daring in
| fidelity; and, finally, in the almost total con-
tempt of those elevated morals, honorable
principles, and regulated manners, which char
acterized what is called the OLD SCHOOL, in the
days Of our Washington, Franklin, Madison,
and others.
This is no fancy sketch, but fearful reality;
one which threatens the well-being, and even
the existence, of our people as one nation.
If we turn our eve from these general and
pervading evils OF perverted and false de-
mocracy, we shall find in its particulars, like
evils. There we find the glorious democracy
of our foreiathers most wickedly abandoned.
| The chief magistrate of this country should
be the nations unbiased choce-he once was
so: and we were happy, vrtu0uS and prosper
Gus. When thus selected, he is truly an hon
ored man; and lawfully Yields an astonishing
mass of constitutional power, generously and
freely conferred by the deliberate Judgment OF
"A grateful people. But now all this glory con-
tents not the voracious nav of loco-locosm;
our President must be yet more poweriu--a
democrat i'll name, he must he deSpot in fact
With patronage unknown TO any othse. gov
eminent, he now seeks 10 extend ii indefinitely.
and yet still retains the ielicitous name. Pos
sessed of a power that endures but for four or
eight years, he so exercises it as TO influence
the nations miserable destiny, perhaps for as
many centuries, With prescribed constiu-
tona and legal duties, he and his mnons do
nearly as they please-with tribunal for the
Interpretation ofthat constitution, and Of those
laws, he takes that onuS upon himself! With
a Senate, possessed of defined and coordinate
powers, he assumes the control of some. the
disregard Of others, and spurns the dignity
and weight of all, whenever that body is in the
opposition; and even now, when the Senate.
shorn Of most ofits halo, is with him, his min
ions dare to treat it with official insolence and
the arrogance of sell-constructed indepen-
ri dence. Our President finds a currency, the
best in the world, the pride of all who were
truly experienced, and yet persuades the peo-
pie to annihilate the whole, and to substitute
that, which were it fully within his power,
(Which it never can BED must inevitably di-
minish all existing property 10 one third oi Its
value, all commercial operations in yet great.
er degree, aud the wages of labor 10 most
starving pittance; and yet the people are call
ed upon to believe that all this is democracy!
With an OVERLOOKING treasury these two Presi-
dents would persuade the people TO deal with
it as national calamity; and hence measures
are soon adopted TO impoverish not only the
national fsc, but the people at large; and, the
once retrenching administration spends forty
millions of dollars in capturing few Indians;
and, in less than three years, expends more
than forty millions of dollars beyond what were
expended during Mr.. Adams four years.
This same economical President in theory, but
mailman in practice, has thousand Offices tn
fill, more than are wisely filled, and yet has a
I thousand more created, for sinister purposes;
he has halfstarving ambassadors at expensive
courts, whose compensation it is democratic
not to increase, but which he, through the ar
tifces of the appointing power, fully compen-
safes.
But these are not 1.-THE of the evils of our
much abused democracy, connected with the
Presidency. The high incumbent, after eight
years employment of the peoples favor, knows
that the constitutional appointment ola success
sor is neither hereditary nor nomnatve, but
purely elective by the people, and yet he dares
to nominate his successor, and would even con-
troll the succession to that succession Where,
then, are the people? They indeed cast in their
ballots, but only as the Roman Senate, in
Rome's degenerate days seconded the decree
and rescripts of The Imperial despot. Where
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