The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1848-12-03

sion. My suggestion in respect to system OF pilot
age in New York IL this First, board of commits
soners Of three persons appointed by the Cham
Der of Commerce one by the Board OF Underwriters,
and one by the pilots, who shall have power to exs-
mine and license all persons DESTROYS of acting pi
lots and to superntend the administration of the sys
tenn generally Second classification Of the boats to
include thofe of New York. New Jersey and merchants
pilots with all the persons belonging to them who
shall be nd competent and an assignment of the
boats in turn to three descriptions of SERVICE viz
cruising out of sight Of Sandy Hook within sight Of the
light house, and in the vicinity of the Hook. This will
correspond substantially with the station system at
Liverpool and will at all times insure to vessels arriv
ing at the city Of New York. competent pilots under
legal regulation and under the supervision of the
camille interest of the city The first step towards the
Congress- without which It cannot be placed upon such
footing as to insure its efficacy.
Am erie an Institutions and the Presidential
Elections.
From the London Chronicle, Nov.
In expressing wish, as we did on former &C.
caslon, for the success of General Taylor, we
thought of his elevation rather as favorable SYM
tom OF the general temper OF the American people,
and especially of their feelings respecting this
country, than as likely to exercise direct and
important influence on the foreign or domestic
politics of the United States. There is no doubt
whatever as (Which is the better candidate OF the
two favorltes. General Cass is man whose whole
career has been one OF unmlngled mischief; he is
the exponent, literally, OF no single principle but
to England in particular. His mission" to Paris
and his seat in Congress, have been used for no
other end than that of furhering those detestabIe
Objects 1t is true that, with the view of catching
the votes OF free traders, an attempt has been
made, within the last few weeks, to connect his
name with the maintenance or extension of
liberal tariff; but tor such matters he has shown
neither taste nor talent, nor will he, if elected
exercise, the smallest influence, upon them, one
way or the other. General Taylor, on the other
hand, has now abandoned the equivocal ground
which he at first took up-the ground Of per-
sonal reputation-and has thrown himself into
the hands Of the wing party, which includes
ty OF the United States. man of no remark
able abilities, but sensible, practical, and welin-
tentoned, he Is known to be friend to peace and
civilization, and determined enemy of that wild
and lawless spirit which has lately manifested
Itself among his countrymen, and which, If I'M
checked, will render the American people the fire.
brands and the terror of the world We heartily
wish, therefore, that they may not give SO signal
proof of their DETECTION from the policy of those
great statesmen who laid the foundations of their
republic, as the election OF General Cass, under
the existing circumstances of the Union, would
afford.
But it is great mistake, though very common
one In this country to suppose, that the President
OF the United States. possesses, independently of
the people and their, representatives, any great
power either for &C cd evil even In that sphere
which Is, IN theory, peculiarly his own or that the
iore1gn policy OF the republic is directly affected
by a change in the Presidency, We are In the
habit OF borrowing our ideas OF the influence of an
executive chief from the old communities to which
we are accustomed, and to argue from thence
that, IN the case OF America, an irremovable die
tator, entrusted with the command of the army
and navy, the conduct of negotiations, the dispo-
sal OF patronage, and all the other iunc tions OF
supreme administration, differs little, except In
the duration OF his tenure, from an absolute mo-
march,. Such notion is founded on a funda-
AnfoI 4
ct America, as it is worked In the present day
The President can do little. or nothing without
the assent of Congress. Alone, he can neither
declare war, conclude treaty, nor appoint defnl-
lively to any one of the higher offices at home
OF abroad. r. snort, the foreign secretary CT the
Unlled ILngdom has infinitely greater opportuni-
ues of committing the British nation, and inf
ntey greater influence over Its policy, than any
President now has, or ever will have, over that
OF the United States. The days are past when
country were returned by the people as their Pre-
sidents, with the express object of champoning
the democratic" principle against the " federal
ism" of Congress-, and when, by using that e-
yer, some of them attained to a height Of popula-
rlty and power which, in centralized republic,
would probably have been fatal to liberty. OF
late years, the work of the democracy having
bee completed, the representative bodies having
-ilo ON the introduction of the practice of in
and from the indirect operation of
other causes--cOme to be more entirely subser-
Went to their constituents, and the generation
which supplied those early and vigorous Presi-
dents having nearly passed away, the office has
dwlndled INTO comparative lnslgnifcance. Men
OF no reputation, Of small political ability, are
raised TO II (their deficiencies in those respects
beng, apparently, rather a recommendation than
otheIwlse) merely with the view of slgnalizIng
the performance of political party, and Of
placing its members in the various offices which
are dependent on the central government. Not
the least remarkable sign of the relations between
the people and their Executive, is to be found in
the fact, that formerly the President used to be
reelected as matter of course, there having
been bet two exceptions (and those after despe-
rate contests) IN fOrty-slx years; whereas now,
II seems likely that the rule of putting them aside
after the hrst term Will be universal; tor, when
the impending election shall have been decided,
there Will have been four successive instances of
ii within twelve years.
The fact is, that the supremacy of the majority
In the United States has been, for the last half
century, tending more and more to become SUI
pfeme; and the power of the President, like that
OF the Senate, the monetary corporations, the ju-
diclal tuncuonarIes, und every other institution
any degree of stability and permanence,
has been slowly but sensibly reduced in its proper
lions, and shon OF Its strength though the change
is rather in the manner in which the people exer-
else their controlling authority, than in its theo-
reucal extent. Two causes have chiefly con-
lrlbuted to BRING about this result-the increasing
preponderance of the West in the Union, and the
the infancy of the republic, its ruling sc ctlons were
New England and Virginia, and both were full of
conservative elements-the former from the sober
and religious character of the people, and the
latter from the existence of landed gentry with
ieudal traditions. But-though there is much of
those elements still left IN the older States-pro-
their influence over the councils of
The Union has diminished to very great extent.
This may easily be conceived if we rccollect that
the population OF those States hardly increases at
all-that 1t is only prevented from falling off very
largely by the importation of the scum and refuse
OF European desututlon--and that at the same
time, the shores of the lakes, and the valleys of
the Mississippi and the Ohio, have become the
habltauon Of vast mulutudes, who are debarred,
almost by the necessity OF their position, from any
chance OF attaining, tor many years to come, a
high civilization, and who are peculiarly exposed
to all the influences Except material wrechedness)
which tend TO degrade and corrupt humanity.
These form the effective influences to which we
look, not without anxiety, as presenting dam
gers OF serious nature, both for the present
and Tor The future. In cOnneXlnn with the destl-