The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1855-04-20
.TimRer for Presidents.

City.
Tmber for Presidents.
The nomination Of George Law for the
vania, and that OF Commodore Vanderbilt by
that of New Jersey, may be considered
good jokes for day, but they will be-
come serious matters by and by. No doubt
Of that. Since the first Presidential cleo
ton, the country has had fourteen Presi-
dents, eleven Of whom have been lawyers,
and three soldiers; or, if jackson be class
ed according to his best known calling, and
not his original profession, ten lawyers and
four soldiers. But of the regular army Presi-
dents, 0ne-the frst-was by his character, his
services, and the circumstances in which he was
placed, wholly beyond all possibility of COMPARE
son: and his being soldier cannot be used as
any argument in debate on the fitness of SOL
diers for the first office in the State. It is doing
no injury to their memory to say that tie two
ethers-Harrison and Tay lor-were not men
fitted to shed lustre on the rank Of President.
General Harrison's large vote was negative
one vote against Van Buren's financial mea-
sures, not in his favor. Had his life
been spared to discharge the duties Of
bis office, this might have been more ap-
parent. Death came to General Tsylor's re
lief, also, and released him from entaRgls-
ments in which the deficiencies of the brave
old man were becoming painfully apparent.
The lesson taught by the nations experience of
soldier Presidents does not tell in favor of the
army.
OF the eleven lawyers who have filed the
Presidential chair, very tewwill be ranked here
after as great men. The elder Adams had great
qualities; but his was not an original mind: he
loved to rely on precedent rather than right:
revered old usages because they were old; and
threw away much of his natural sense by in
dulging his ouerweening vanity. The younger
Adams. an amiable, highly accomplished man,
who would have been admirable as the head OF
university. never gave evidence of great sd-
ministrative or executive faculties. Madison
and Monroe, botn eminent men in inferior sta
tons the one lawyer of remarkable astute-
ness, the other politician of more than ave-
rage ability, both shrunk into very moderate
proportions in the Presidential chair. Van Blu
rem, schemer before his elevation was some
thing worse in Office, and however honest per-
sonally, left q name which win always be con-
nected with official corruption. Polk was
weaker than Monroe; q mere creature Of cir
cumstance; fortune made him President, but
could not make him statesman. Tyler was q
trickster. Indeed, the closer we approach
to our own times, the more rapidly do
the Presidents seem to descend in the moral
and intellectual scale. OF respectable
nudity like Mr.. Fillmore or an impostor like
Mr.. Pierce, it were needless to speak. Look
ing back in short, upon the whole line
Of the Presidents Of the United States, there are
but two, Washington is Of course, out of line,)
upon whom the mind dwells with any pleasure.
With all their faults, Thomas Jefferson and
Andrew Jackson are the only men whom the
Presidency does not seem to have displaced.
Differing in every respect one from the other,
born, brought up, living in circumstances en-
tirely different, they bore, Notwithstanding q
striking resemblance to each other In many
conspicuous traits of character. Both were
men, in word. Both had large minds, sus-
ceptible Of large sensations and large concep-
tions, and capable Of executing large plans.
Both aimed at originality and attained it a.
often as great men have usually done. Both
bad the courage of their opinions.
But both, it is quite worth noticing, though
bred to the bar, had spent most Of their active
life in other and foreign pursuits: agriculture,
soldering, letters, statesmanship
Looking, therefore, at these past Presidents,
and summing up the net gain to the country
accruing from the inyeterate habit of choosing
the Chief Ruler from the bar or the camp, the
people of the United States may well take
little serious thought at this time, and pause
before they decide on this or that mans cAndi- |
dature, according to the routine Of principles.
LORD RAGLAN ON THE WEATHER.-Who has