Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1856-06-04
,;-. FROM tic Cirolin Times.
1.-THE ELECTORAL QUESTION.

tors tegds to centraize all power in the Fed.
eral Government, at the expense Of the SOW.
ereignty and rights of the States.
'lst;{an any manner in which the Presi.
dentialeeleciion could be conducted, there
must By excitement; but it becomes intensi-
fed through the popular mode Of electing
the ELECTORS, by the mere force Of the mum.
bers that are parties to it.. There is no es.
cape ftom it. The smallest minority is suf.
licient,to keep great national party OH the
alert. .z'l'hc whole system Of party tactics
is necessarily put into action. lnllammato,
ry pamphlets flood the country stump speak.
ers hafaugne the people; the press feeds
the growing excitement 1t runs from man
to man, from community to community, and
from State to State pcrvading every class
and Interests throughout the whole. Ii
leavens the zeal of every caucus, and fires
enthusiasm from the lires.de Of the private
citizen 10 The great halls Of the nation.
In its remurseless hunt for The appliances
of power, no place is sacred. Success OF
the party is the paramount aim Of every
moment and ia til in its creed the test Of fit.
ness for every Office, from the Presidency
itself to that of militia beat constable
and whp shall say that the ermiae OF the ju-
dietary shall not be profaned, when the
badgeship fths partisan, or retirement, is the
rule with every other appointment! In this
State ofsthings, as the politicians take their
cue from the people The, Legislature becomes
filled with partzan demagngues-ofallG Gena.
gngues the most dauge Gus and conlemptibie
aud lhe.Whole energy Of the State egislation is
expended in manufacturing tactics fora party
campaisn Is it not palpablc that the whole
State patronage becomes The property of a
national. party! Is it not true that the States
are slorn o.! their glory, for the benefit oil
an oversLadowing power, which consoIidales
their own strcugtu against themselves!
81 The vast area over which the Presi.
dental. election is held, prevents any intrlli.
yeat concert among the people, and they arc
thus brought under The control of patty con,
veulinns.; and these, in turn, for the same
reason, under that of the great central eau.
Gus. The whole party is knit together as an
unit The struggle for success obtera,es
Stale linas from the minds of tho people,
riergrs fneni into one vast voting con,inuni.
ty, aud reduces the State into So many pre-
cincts of one all,absorbing election. The
individuality of each Stale is thus complete
~ lost sight Of; and that not for the occa.
sion merely, but for all time for no sooner
is one triumph gained, or one defeat endured
than the whole array is marshal!ed under the
broad banner Of u natiogrl party for another
campaign.
Sd. The immense patronage Of the Fede
raj aud State Governments, brough ht to bear
upon the election, maintains the unity of the
party. The quarter oi Il million OF Office:
in the Gilt of The President, and the many
millions OF brihes from the public treasury
are but SO many links in great chain
which binds all in the indssuluble bond o
spoil And who dues not know that all tlIs
holdings Of the Federal Government, excep
those III this State, from the must splendit
Cabinet appointment to the wayside pos
Office, are, after each election instantly fillee
by the winning, and yielded up hy the losing
partv9 1t is no sufficient answer 10 say
that ii all this flood of corruption wert
turned upon The Legislatures OF the States
il would overwhem all their virtue aud pa
lriotisn in utter ruin; for it is impossible
that the members of these respective bodies
can hold all these Offices and there are very
few of such a nature rs that they may b.
filled hy any but the people themselves. Bu
let it be borne in mud, that if a member D
the Legislature becomes corrupt, The retned>
is removal but il the people lose their vir
tue, the experiment OF self.government i!
ended.
4th 1t may be said Of all parties thai
they are corrupt. To keep themselves il
existence, their interpretations of the consii
tuition must be broad enough TO unite TIT
most dscordant elements; while, on all side:
it is conceded, that it is nuiy strirt con
s.ructon which can protect the suvercignt,
of the States What hope, either Tor ths
Constitution or the rights of tue States
when party platforms are built SO wide thai
lreesuilels and slaveholdcrs may stand i!
amity upon them, as may nuw be witnessed
at every elec,ionl But when power is re
duced, as in this mode OF election, to its las
remove-the peopIe-lhere remains, as il
apparent in all the other States but our own
neither responsibility in the voter nor cheek
upon party excitement. He is but u movie,
in observation, and has learned very it'll,
from his own experience, who will not read
Iy admit that an individual may be wiser
than his whole State Legislature, yet, in the
ultarism Of party spi'i,, will consent to tha
which his cooler judgment will never ap
prove. Every ybody knows the strength .
fellowship in wrong, aud how easily senst
Of odiun, is lost in the numbers who share
it. Aud this is the key to that mysteriou;
fact that the :AboIitionst, Millsrd Fillmore,
received the vote of the people Of Georgia
through their electors, for Vice President
though, had they stood aloof from the ex
ci,ement, they would never have suffered
their legislature to have elected The same
electors. No better scheme could be devi
<cd to cover over the evil deeds of the great
dpmagogucs than to veil them up in some
leading national measure, and to have them
embraced by the rank and file. through the
never failing medium of party spirit. How