Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1852-08-28
NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER.
AyAlLABrLITY or CANDIDATES.


AVAILABILITY OF CANDIDATES.
The usual class of aspirants to the Presidency,
and their partisans, affect extreme contempt for
what is called the avaisabQiy of military chief
tains"
Now, whence that despsed quality, Availability,
or popularity, in successful commander
If we look behind the fact we shall find audit
ability to represent-as in the cases of WASHING.
TON, jackson, &c. &c.-mighty deeds of valor and
patriotism, performed in periods Of deep gloom and
peril, when only the great in soul and the great IN
the ability to command can
.sRide on the whirlwind and direct the storm
men who, In the iron harvest of the field" know
how to conquer peace" and, through the restora-
ton of that blessing,
y, :. To- scatter plenty round smiling land,
And read their history in a nations eyes"
Such s'the mission of patriotic leader Of armies
a mission requiring combination of rare virtues
gifts, and talents
Argent British historian, (Roebuck J in reference
to Wellington, has said: s,
.No'znan can be great soldier unless he possesses
great administrative talent and this talent is more likely
to be brought forth and fotered by the business Of
than iy the management of cases at nisi prus yet be-
of the habit Of speaking the lawyer is deemed
pablo of governing while the soldier whose life is spent
in action and not in talk considered IMMERSED in what
are called the affairs Of State" WI .1r..
The same thought is developed and powerfully
enforced in speech ION the floor of the House Of
Representatives, by the late JOHN RANDOLPH in
the session Of l827-'28, in support of Gen. JACK
SON, then candidate for the Presidency .a
81 deny, sir (sad Mr.. R) that there is any instance
in history of not having military capacity being
at the head Of any Government with advantage to that
Government and with credit to himself There is great
mistake this subject is not those talents which
able man to write books and make speeches that quail
fly him to preside Government"
And then, after referring to /" the Hildebrands,"
&C., he continued:
tThese (said the orator. brought up in the
coister perhaps, but they endowed with that high
est Of all gifts of Heaven, the capacity to lead men, whether
in the Senate the field Sir it is and the same
faculty. and its successful display has always received
and always will receive the highest honors that
bestow and this viii be the case, do what you w cant
what you may about military chieftans and military do
mnation So long as is man. the victorious defender
of his country w and ought to receive that countrys
suffrage for all that the forms of her Government allowed
her to give friend said me- not long since, Why,
Gen. JACKSON can't write Admitted y Sir,
the Duke of MARLBOROUGH, the greatest captain and
gotator of his age (which the age of Louis the Four
teenth and who may rank with the greatest of any
age whose irresistible and address riumphed
over every obstacle in the council his military prowess
and conduct did in the field this great could not
spell To Judge men by their books or
speeches is deceptive not only consider the want of
what is called learning not to be disqualification for the
Commander-in Chief in civil military life but do
slider the possession Of too much learning to be of most
mischevous consequence to such character who is to
draw from the cabinet Of his sagacous mind, and to
make the learning of others, whatever qualities they
may possess subject to his own enlarged and vigorous
views Such was CROMWELL; such
WASHINGTON not learned but wise =
man may be capable of making able or ingenious
argument on any subject within the sphere of his know
ledge But the talent which en-
ables man to write a book make speesh Inns
more relation to the leading Of army Senate
than it has to the dressing Of dinner The talent which
FITS man for either Office is the talent for The gOrHment
Of men," &c.
Mr.. Randoph's leading ideas, in that effective
speech, fall within the views of Plutarch in his
Denostlsenes and Cicero Compared:
DExosrHEsEs, (says the great biographer,) when he
touches upon his own praise does it with noensive
delicacy He never in fact does it at all but when he
has some great point in view and upon all other occasions
he Is extremely modest But CICERO, in his orations
speaks in such high terms Of himself that it is plain he
had most incorporate vanity. Thus he cries out:
n.Let arms revere the robe, the wreathed brow
Yield to the tongue
AT length he came to commend not only his own ae-
ton and operation, the Commonwealth but likewise his
oaion. as well those which he had only pronounced
those which he had committed to writing If in uve
nile vanity he we're wing with the rhetorcian socraes
and AnaImenes instead Of being inspired with the lofty
ambition Of guiding the Roman people,
".Fierce in the field and dreadful to the foe
After remarking that q it is mean and lliberal to
RELY on such qualification TO hunt after praise
in that quarter" Plutarch proceeds:
In this respect Demosthenes behaved with more Dig
nity with superior elevation of soul He said, has
.bty to explain himself was acquisition, and not
so perfect but that required great candor and indu
eence on the part of the audience He thought it must
be- az indeed it Is only low and little mind that can
value itself upon such attainments.
TURNING THE TABLEs.-Rairoad companies have fire.
oueny been sued for damages account OF cattle being
fied ON the track by the railroad train Such suits
have recently however, been decided in favor Of the
as the Of cattle has right to endanger
the property Of the company the lives Of the passen-
GERS by allowing his cattle to run loose. In Montreal
ant az this kind was brought few days ago, when the
Court took s stronger grounds that the owner Of the