The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1843-11-13

triiSehccf, 10 HdlEe, uuIlnx tue approaching
Presidential canvass, all reference TO the great
measures of public policy with which The Wing
party is idenli6ed-lest the growing POPULAR
ty" Of these measures should enable their enc
mics 10 get into power by prole sing TO be 'helr
friends" If this whimsical proposition were
accepted the result would be-, of course, that
the only question of National interest left TO be
determined would be who should have the DIS
posal and management of the Government pa
tronage2 We have no doubt that this is, In
fact, considered the most important aud momen
tous question by the most active assallants OF
the present Administration. They are noI
welded either to measures or men; but The
spois have an irresistible attraction, against
honor can induce them TO practice, or even pro
Tess, any sei-denial.
In the purer days Of the Republic, when thu
Government was administered by the sages ant
patriots of the Revolution, the patronage OF thu
Government, was scarcely heard of, and neither
seen nor felt during elections. What wouit
have been the emotions of such men could they
have witnessed the dsgrace!u scenes-stil
fresh in the minds Of the Peope-which imme-
dately followed the Inauguration of General
Harrson2 A President Of the United States
literally hunted to deata according TO the testi
mony of his own physicians, by applicants to
ofGce-compelled, in order to obtain an occasion
al respite from his tormentors, 10 seek refuge
at the firesides of his most prominent political
opponents-and undergoing at last the fate Of
This fact, SO degrading TO the nation, was pro-
claimed and commented on in the European
Journals as a specimen of the working of our
Republican institutions and as symptom OF
their approaching downfall.
The origin Of the introduction Of the disposal
of Government patronage, as one of the impor-
tant questions 10 be decided BY Presidential
election, may be traced as far back as the coa-
ton between Mr.. Adams and Mr. CLAY. Mr..
Clay, it is well known, publicly made the de-
claralion. give US patronage and we will make
ourselves POPULAR" and his practice, as far as
his power extended, was in conformity with this
declaration. He never omitted an opportunity
to introduce an active and efficient partisan into
otiice. He cas-, longing eye at the patronage
"f the General Post Office Department, then
by Mr. Mclean, and would most
willingly have got rid Of that able and upright
officer. But Mr.. Adams was of more rimid
and wary cast of character: he loved fish, but
as he had already caught larger one than he
H. L.C-
prie'y IF wetling his feet any further
After the acc, ssion Of General Jackson to the
Presidency many removals from Office took
ilace-so many that MIR. Clay and his friends
pretended TO be horror-struck. They predicted
the downfall Of the Republic, and the total ami
hilaton of The power of the People. No charge
was SO frequently and so DANGEROUSLY urged
against the Administration as that Of proscrip.
ton. The President, it was urged, day after
day, was the President Of party, and not Of the
Nation. This continued TO be one of the most
prominent and fertile topics of defamation, up
10 the close Of Mr.. Van Buren's Administration.
In their elecioneering harangues throughout
the country, during the canvass of 1910, the
above all others. Their President, they boast
ed, would be the President of the Nation. Moth
ing more would be heard of prescription; party
discussions and animosilies would be healed,
and the nation, under Wing rule, would be like
a family of brothers, and share the loaves and
fishes amicably.
But no sooner had the Inauguration OF Gen.
Harrison taken place than the organs Of the
Wing party throughout the country simultane-
ousy changed their tune. They began 10 speak
significantly of the wrongs which the Wing
party had endured, Of the corruptions Of the re-
cent Administration, of the reform so loudly de-
manded by the People, and the impossbitv OF
affecting that reform without a thorough purga-
ton Of the public offices and "opening new
set of books"
The National Intelligencer, one of the mos,
staid and decorous of their presses, and pro-
Tossing peculiar regard for consistency, was
particularly busy in paving the way, and pre-
pairing the minds Of the People, for the approach
ing scramble for offices. 1t hunted up and re-
published all that the other party had ever ad-
vanced in justification OF the removals made
during their continuance in power and in their
editorial comments, among other arguments and
incentives, the editors putiorth what they no doub,
supposed would be an uDanswerable plea in the
question, whether any individual coming into
the possession of an estate or mandatory would
think himself bound to retain the ovcrseers or
head workmen employed by the preceding pro-
pretor7
This plea, if admitted, would of course have
covered the whole ground--and very wide one
1t was-of contemplated operations. The pa
tronage of the Government would have been
considered the private pror erty, for the time
being, at least, of the person coming into the
possession Of it, and not tnsst for The public
Each head Of Department or bureau, or even
subdivision of bureau, would have considered
himself the owner of a separate farm or mann.