The North-Carolinian., 1849-06-30


From the Washington Union.
ONE-MAN POWER.
"Captain sturgis, how did you feel when you
fell overboard:' -
"Wct, marin !"--Boston Miscellany,
"Jemima, bring that child in directly. If they
hit him in the head again with i brickbat. they
will make him a natural fool"
"La, ma, you're SO delicate. e."-Professor Gill
From the day when Adam sat upon the
green hills of paradise in tig-leaf inexpres-
sibles brief as school boys tale, to the
present moment, heaven, earth, and hades,
and a majority of the ladies', have been in
favor of the one man pewer. This is a
singular fact, and should not be forgotten
by the Second Washington--''may the
Lord keep his memory green''--as the lat
ter end of pea-time approaches. One man
power is equal to one-eighth of one-horse
power--ergo eli ght men are equal to one
horse; or, in other words, the Second Wash
inston and his cabinet are fully equal to
Old Whitley in strength. to say nothing OF
that curious affair called the intellect.
We have often been amused at the sage
remarks made by demagogues and simple
tons upon the evils of the one-man power.
These SoIons of the cutters never went be-
low the surface of anything in their lives
excepting a venison pasty or dish ot but
termiIk. If they had, they would have
seen that, after all, onc-man power does
the business in the world. We will take
an example from the cabinet. Suppose
the Second Washington, the State and
Navy vote for Mr. I.incon, Of Illinois, for
Commissioner of the General Land Office,
and suppose the Treasury, War, Post
Office, Attorney General, and Home De-
partment vote for Mr. Butterfield for the
same office; does not any one see that But
tertield gets his Office by one vote--to wit,
the vote of the Home Department.; and
that, too, against the vote Of the Second
Washington, armed with all the panopIy of
the ''heroic age?'' Here is one-man pow
expense Of consistency and the constltu-
tion. Had the Second Washington, who
is alone authorized by the constitution to
make appointments. with the advice and
consent of forty senators, appointed Mr.
Butter6eld, it would have been, in the eyes
of those POLITICAL wiseacres, a fearful cxcr-
else of the e-man power. AS it is, how
ever, it is all right in the opinion of those
who do not know, or do not desire to know,
the difference between rig ght and wrong.
Another example: Suppose treaty is made
with foreign government, and that treaty
is submitted to the Senate by the Execu
tive, and out of 60 senators but SO vote
for its ratification; does not every one see
that the fortieth ,nan-one n,an-has de-
feated the measure, and that one-man pow
home and abroad7 So - in a. the s.'' snprsm. nts y.
Court of the United States: Suppose a
case involving the rights Of a citizen under
the constitution comes before it for .Ieci-
sion, and the court is found to stand 4 for
the citizens claim, and against il; does
not the NTH JudSe-one man-construe the
consttuti on, and take away rights bv
word that may be invaluabIe? So in a
grand inquest: Suppose IL jurors declare
a bill to be true bill, aud the 18th juror
sits in his chair, and thus by a silent vote
in the negative throws out the bill, let's
crime 60 unpunished, and defeats the ends
OF justice; does not one-man power present
itself here? We may carry the principle
out through courts martial, conventions,
vestries. associations, clubs, Dorcas socie-
ties, pleasure excursions, and every other
kind OF assemblage, and the most impor-
tant issues in each body may, and will pro
badly be decided by the vote of one man.
woman, or child. We recolIect Marcus
Morton was chosen governor of Massachu
sets by one vote, and that vote was ascrib-
ed to himself Here was one.man power.
We recollect Texas was admitted to the
Union by one vote in the United States
Senate Here was one-man power We
recoilect that the Bank Of the United
States was created by one vote in the Sen
ate; that the black tariff Of l842, and the
blacker bankrupt bill, were carried by
small majorities, if not by majorties of one;
that Thomas Jefferson was elected Presi
dent, after many balIotings, over Aaron
Burr, by one vote; and that manv people
think Mr. John Quincy Adams was elected
President over Gen. Jackson by the vote
OF the gallant Prince Hal of the West.
One man power! Why, in every hive
is queen bee, upon whose shoulders rests
the existence of the hive. In every ant
hill there is bully pis,nire who keeps the
little antes in order. In every fl ock of
Wild geese there is one old gander. whose
fa'ntest ''squawk - is law, and gospel too,
and IN every rookery there is one bully
rook to cav down all opposition, and
whose cav is the caus Of every e.
fect. In the early days one-man power
was recognized by heaven. Moses had no
cabinet, kitchen or otherwise: the twelve
OF Gall'lee never gave advice, but obeyed
the instructions Of one superior in ntellect
without question. The household hearth
unless in state Of anarchy, knows but
one-man power, and in spite of all that