Mississippi Democrat. (Carrollton, Miss.) 1844-18??, 1845-04-30

fix the law Of one or two reflections a.
The proper limit Of individual ambition.
Whit! A Presidential election every
yeara An earthquake annually A poll.
teal revolution with every revolution Of
the seasons2
Softly, softly, we reply-you forget thai
If we should have four times as many
Presidential elections, they would be in
more than cquipalent proportion reduced
in importance and ercitement. A Presi.
Dental election would then add little or
nothing to the excitement of an ordinary
local election. These latter we have ev-
cry year, and must continue 10 have. Nay,
no one Of them would be attended with
half the excitement that now pervades
them all. As before remarked, every one
Of them is already Presidential election
land an election having reference TO a
four-years' Presidential tenure, with all its
passions, its ambitions, and its bitterness.
The Presidential question would no long
or be the Aaron's rod to swallow up all
the rest. 1t would be, as ii ought 10 be,
subordinate 10 the State and Municipal
questions upon which the State and Mu.
nicipal elections ought to turn. 1t would
then add nothing sensibly to their excite
ment which they now borrow from il .---
OF verify, this appears to us so plain,
that we are only astonished that it is not
already an universal conviction, already
ripe for immediate translation into action
as practical constitutional reform. That
il will, that il must, very soon be 50, we
cannot doubt.
But--(shall again exclaim the obcctor)
shall we have an annual sweep Of of
ices--a yearly rotation Of the great vicis-
studc of In and Out! 1t is bad enough
as it is now--would you quadruple the
evil already SO pernieiousP
No, certainly not. On the contrary,
we would indeed apply an eilectual cure
10 this evil. II is now tolerated to some
extent every four years, because the pub
lie mind feels that even though an expe-
rienced incumbent may be superseded BY
another who has yet TO make himself fami.
liar with his new duties, the prospect of
four years tenure is long enough 10 make
a few months of inefficient experimental
settling down in the Office of little impor.
lance in comparison with the motives in.
clinng victorious party to this species Of
reward TO its more mertorious or more
necessiious friends. This length oftenure
is also sufficient to constitute an attraction
TO the latter--Io tempt them from other
modes of industry--to lead them TO hope
for Office, aim for il, labor for il, and final.
~ 10 press hard upon the central dspens.
ing sources of patronage, with "powers of
application" hard, hard indeed to be with
stood. All this would be changed under
an annual tenure of the Presidency
Neither would the public mind then tole-
rate unnecessary political changes of Of
fee from year TO year; nor would Pre-.
sident, candidate for reelection, then
venture upon them; nor would office thus
fugitive and slippery in the grasp, be an
object Of pursuit or desire to any extent
compatible with The present miserable state
of things in this respect. Even, there.
fore, without any restriction upon the pow
er of official patronage, this one simple
change at the central handspring of the
general machinery, would go far to apply
the remedy SO much needed throughout
the now disordercd action of the farihest
extremities.
But we do not propose 10 stop here.
We would in that case fix regular term
for all Offices in their nature susceptible Of
such limitation, and deprive the Executive
of the power Of removal without cause 10
be assigned to the Senate. Subject to the
check Of an annual responsibility, the Elk,
ecutive would then take very good care
that those reasons should always be good
ones. The extent of the federal official
patronage would then be confined to the
Offices falling vacant irregularly 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 consider
ed, as now, subject to the action Of the
vast patronage power of the Executive.
The altered state of things 10 which we
refer, as the certain result of the sug-
gested reforms, would moreover generate
such state of public feeling on the sub
ject, that the usage would soon, we are
sure, grow up to be, 10 re-appoint all faith
ful and serviceable 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 Is realize in prac-
ice the change that would then come over
the spirit of our politics2
To attempt to apply similar views to the
action of a party or an administration no@,
is out of the question. No party coming
into power, or already in il, will--or, in
deed, in reference to the practical necessi-