The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1856-03-02

1t was 20 pe expected bnes D system WHICH
commenced in management would end in
treason. The Pittsburg and Philadelphia
Conventions purport to have been representa-.
tive and delberative bodies; they were neither
they were cabals Of low, housing politi-
clans, who had not the merit Of pretending
to be patriotic. They were gatherings Of self
constituted spoilmen, political fortune hun
ters and bold impostors 1t is thus every four
years we are afflicted by the swarming of poll
ticians in this country, invariably producing
new combinations and platforms and often in
Quoting into the hives of Office horde of ra-
pacious charlatans and political paupers, who
become the agents of the people, the ministers
and judges of the public service, for the time
being. 1t would be folly to suppose the affairs
of the government can be perfectly admins
tered. If Mr. Jefferson had not informed US
that men are not angels, we might feel some
| assurance of their imperfections from the his
| tory of the past and a view of the present
| condition of our affairs. Government, in the
United States, is based upon public opinion
| that is the corner stone and foundation of the
republic. In order to give effect to this OPT
Mon, we have established certain organic
forms, which are lifeless till brought into ac-
ten by the voice of the people. 1t is mani
| fest from this statement that the very soul of
| the public administration, and of the govern
ment itself, is to be found in an unbiased, an
| absolutely free expression of the sentiments Of
| the persons legally authorized to vote at cleo
| lions. 1t is the highest duty citizen can
perform, that OF depositing his vote for this or
| that candidate for office. The right thus to
vote imnoses o corresponding obligation to
exercise due discretion in the act; this right
and obligation in fact constitute the only es-
septial difference between the citzea and the
subject-b between republcanism aud monarchy.
Hence the constitution has devolved upon
the people Of the United States the duty of
electing, once in four years, their chief magis-
,yate, and at one time and another nearly all
their public officers. This is the theory of our
federal and State systems. 1t was natural in
such condition of things that there should
be efforts made to subvert this admir- able pro-
cess Of equality and accountability. Men are
ambitions. and often restless and uneasy under
even the mildest restraints some are vciou1
Others are mercenary, others are caprcious, en-
ioyDg life only in the midst Of political storms
and hurricanes, 1t is not, therefore, wonderful
( at devices have been conceived under which
the forms Of the government and the nominal
rights of the people to vote have been retain
ed and acknowledged, while the actual
privilege OF selecting their officials has been
denied them. The caucus or convention system
is one Of those devices 1t undertakes to es-
tablish an intermediate estate between the con-
stitution and the people. It is no answer to
this assertion to say that conventions only
present candidates; because the management
by which they are thus presented is such, in
effect, as to produce utter confusion amongst
the electors, and by forestalling the less active
portion OF the people, to render them sub
seryient, in fact to the dictates Of the conven-
ion or caucus. This is seen in the election OF
Mr.. Van Buren, to the Presidency in 1886, the
first positive fruit of the caucus system after
ts elimination into the present plan of con-
ventiops, under the direction and guidance of
Messrs Van Buren, and Marcy. Nobody be-
lieves that the true public sentiment of the
country was represented in that election
The principles of the democratic masses are
those of vast majority of the Americ IN
people; bnt there was nothing in the caudi
date presented by the machinery of the D emo
| cratic National Convention in 1885 to recon-
mend him to popular favor. He was at once
| the creator and the creation of the interme-
| date power, and his election was usurpation,
political fraud upon the country; and it was
all the more so, because he was the actual
originator of the trick by which he was subse-
guenuy placed in the Presidential chair. We
may say what we will, but there is, after all,
with or without the Intervention Of politicians
and conventions, certain instinct in the pub
lie mind which, sooner or later, will detect the
beaTtlessness Of public men. Perhaps this is
better illustrated 10 the lives of Gen. Jackson
and Martin Van Buren, than in any other two
prominent persons in this country. The glo-
rious old hero has gone down to the grave
respe cted honored and loved by the whole
American people; while Mr.. Van Buren,, re-
jected first by the voters, in spite Of tie
machinery of the party, and IN 1914 by the
| politicians themselves, now occupies position
| which the least notable Of our public men
| would think it misfortune to be placed in
| But after all, it was the instinct of self-pre
| seryation, and no merit of the Convention, that
| set aside Mr. Van Buren, in 1874.
Caucuses and conventions are alike ia princi-
pie and in practice opposed to the spirit of the
contribution, and virtual violations Of that COM
pact All national platforms are mere de-
vices. delusops and sbares-all violated by
their trainers. They lead to the most fatal in
fueDces in Congress, making legislation the
result Of the compromises of the day between
sections, interests, persons and parties, and
thus gradually, but certainly, subverting the
constitution itself and substituting the name
Ices nopulor cynadiapts nf mon in it's nlaca n