Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1841-1853, 1845-06-05
Volume IVss#N Number 50.

so pernicIousi
No, certainly not. On the contrary, we would in.
deed apply an efectual cure 10 this evil. 1t is now
tolerated to some extent every four years, because the
public mind feels that even though an experienced in
cumbent may be superseded by another who has yet
to make himself familiar Hith his new duties, the
prospect of a four years tenure Is long enough to
make a few months of inefficient experimental set
Ting down in the Office of little importance in COM
parison with the,motives %inclining victorious party
to this species OF reward to its meritorious or more
necessitous friends. This length of tenure is also
sufficient TO constitute an attraction TO the latter-tO
tempt them from other modes of industrvAto lead
them TO hope for Office, aim for it, labor for it, and f.
nally TO press hard upon the central dispensing sour
ces of patronage, with ''powers of APPLICATION hard,
hard indeed to be witLstood. All this would be chang
ed under an annual tenure Of the Presidency. Nei-
Their would the public mind then tolerate unnecessary
political changes of Office from year to year nor
would office thus fugitive and slippery In the grasp be
an object of pursuit OF desire to any extent COMPARE
bic with the present miserable state of things in this
respect. Even, therefore, without any restriction up
on the power of official patronage, this enc simple
change at the central handspring OF the general ma
chinery, would go far to apply the remedy so much
needed throughout the now dlsordered action OF the
ferthest e~xtremities. =.
But we do not propose to stop here. We would in
that case fix a regular term for all Offices in their ma
ture susceptible of such limitation, and deprive the
Executive of the power of removal without cause to
be assigned to the. Senate. Subject to the check of
an annual responsibility, the Executive would then
take very good care that those reasons should always
be good ones. The extent of the federal official pat
ronage would then be confined to he Offices falling
vacant irresularly from time to time, here and there.
Taking four or SIX years as the general tenure, every
year would witness the expiration of only one-fourth
or one-sixth of the commissions of Office, instead of
the whole being considered, as now. subject to the ac-
ton of the vast patronage power of the Executive.
The altered state of things to which We refer, as the
certain result of the suggested reforms, would more
over generate such a state of public feeling on the
subject, that the usage would soon, we are sure,
grow up to be, to ~re-appolnt all faithful and servlcea-
bic officers, of secondary grade, without reference to
their politics.
Is not the simple suggestion Of these thoughts
enough to carry HOME to every mind an earnest desire
to realize in practice the change that would then come
over the spirit of our politics I!
The attempt to apply similar views to the action of
a party or an administration nOlo, is out of the ques-
ton. No party coming in power, or already in it.
wIll-or indeed, in reference to the practical necessl-
ties of position, ought to undertake such a suicidal
quixotiSm. The existing evils are but the fruit and
foliage produced by a necessity of nature from the
deep root, and the vital sap which it sends circulating
through the minutest ramifcatluns OF the structure.
1t is the system which is wrong but the system, as
time and the progress Of events have developed it, has
to be administered on It's own principles. To be IN
the system, and to attempt, while in the system, to
defy and nullify its principles, is at once absurd In
theory and self-destructlve In practice. A President
is more governed by his party, than his party by Its
President. General jackson could not carry out in
practice many of the ideas which he entered on the
Presidency most honestly DESTROYS of adhering to.
Contrast, too, General Harr;son's undoubtedly sincere
professions on the subject. with the performance oil
his one single month, and of the continued action OF
his Cabinet while it adhered to his successor, and
constituted the administration unmitigatedly Wing.
The system, the system, we repeat, tends to create a
necessity which an administration can only modify
and direct, but can neither resist nor evade. 1t comes
into power, for instance, with vast numbers OF dis
tinguished and meritorious friends needing Office quite
as much as existing incumbents-as well, or better
qualified for It's duties-expecting it, desiring it, and
supported by the general local feeling of their party,
which expects and desires the proposed changes, and
which will be disappointed and ~displeased if that
expectation is not ~grati6ed.
And when it is then borne in mind, that, as a gene
raj rule, the ~incumbtnts have gone into Office on the
same principle, with a fair understanding of the
nature Of their tenure Of the places which they were
under no obligation to take-and, in most cases, sup
planting predecessors under circumstances OF private
hardship fully equal to that which the revolving wheel
of political fortune brings again home TO themselves
when it is borne in mind that at each successive step
of alternate retaliation it becomes more and more
difficult, more and more impossible, for either party
to refuse to take the next-lt may be understood even
by those who must heartily dislike this part OF our
SHSleuls HOh AuAC II 4 " NAB-CS ~"
to demand, from any new party and administration
coming into power, any thing short OF a very extern
sive change in the offices, at its disposal.
We dislike this as much az any, and much more
than most. Nevertheless, as practical observers and
reasoners, we see TIE present necessity out of which
it grows; the impossibllity Of preventing 1t; and the
folly of railing against 1t. 1t is In The bad system that
the fault lies, and there alone can it be reached by
anv effective cure or prevention. Perhaps, too, 1t is
best to let it have its full way, without tnkerlng at
its external symptoms with palliatives and patches,
tending only TO delay that radical reform which may
be best promoted by allowing its necessity most
speedily and strongly TO demonstrate itself. That
reform is only to be found in reducing tho Presidential
term taking away the power of removal without
go,d cause assigned-and.w we ought to add, transfer
ring to local popular election a large proportion oil
the official patronage, now vested in the Executive.
Sooner or later this must be done, the later IT IS, the
! worse it will be-tbe sooner, the better.
The reform here proposed would even the chance OF
honorable Presidential aspiration to many men OF the
highest ability and merit who now stand necessarily
+ excluded from it. Any one can for himself easily
make I'D at this moment a list of some fifteen OF
twenty eminent. Democrats, 10 different sections OF
the Union, who may be said all to occupy what may
be called a Pres. dential position, that Is, TO be fully
worthy and suitable as possible candidates Tor thai
highest of human political Lonors ; yet not mcresthan
three or four of these are likely ever to attain It
The tendency of such a state Of things to foster IN
trigue, combination, undue means even Tor legitimate
( ends, among public men OF the inquest grade, II Is
needless to dwell upon. "A fair justice, TOO, wouio
seem to require, that now, when the great and fast
growing extension of our country produces the efeci
Of bringing forward on the stage of public life Sc
large a number of men Of equal, or nearly equa
prefensions. this honor should not be confined to two OF
! three of a class, embracing perhaps q dozen, to The