The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1858-09-04


''When the UNITED STATES contained only three
''milons of Inhabitants they produced generals,
Statesmen, philosophers and orators whose fame
'iwill live as long as the English language Now
''thcrc is not single man of distinction am1ay
''thcir twenty millions. Every President has been
'inerior to his predecessor" Such is the iudg-
ment pronounced by Sgnor MANN, the wise and
courageous defender of Vcnitian independence,
upon the present generation of our public men,
In what he says respecting the decline of states
manshipi in America there is unfortunately only too
much truth in the sweeping conclusion to which
he arrives; there is might be expected not a lit
tie eXaggeraon. The assertion that every Pres
ident has been inferior to his predecessor is by
means literally true. The present Chief Magistrate
of the Republic is coniGsscdly the ablest man who
has filled that office since the days of JACKSON. He
is uuqUeStionably stronger man than Mr. VAN BIZ
rem. HARRISON and TAYLOR, although both of
them popular idols, were VIGOROUSLY unfit for the
high station to which they were chosen. TYLER
and Polk, if not absolutely weak, were far from
being wise or capable rulers. Mr. FILLMORE was
merely the luckiest Of mortals; fortunate chance
threw him into the Presidency, his porty person
enabled him to look the character to perfection and
his Secretary of State relieved him from the trouble
of discharging It's duties. General PIERCE was
simply an amiable gentleman, with pleasant man
ners and a decidedly social turn, who in like man
ner wisely made the task of governing the
country TO his Cabinet; but Mr. BUCHANAN is none
of these. With no feeble or uncertain grasp does
the shrewd, cautious old man who now sits in the
seat of W hold tho rpipc Of
WELD the supreme authority of the State He is
PRESIDENT in deed and in name His Cabinet Min
listers are with him little more than the Heads of
Departments or Chiefs Of Bureaus; his will is their
law, and with no living soul does he divide either
the power or the responsibility of his high Office
With little in his personal character or public ca
reer to conciliate affection or inspire enthusiasm.
his acknowledged a iltes have always commanded
the respect and confidence of the country while
his power of will and tenacity ofpurpose, amount
ing almost to obStinacy are well calculated
to give strength and vigor to his admins
tration. We cannot therefore, in view of such n
living example to the contrary, give our entire
assent to what Signor MANN has said respecting
the degeneracv OF our Presidents; although
we must admit that the tendency TO dcterio-
ration IN our public men is melancholy and an
incontrovertibe fact. The high qualities of our
statesmen at the time of the Revolution are uni
versally admitted. The men who guided the
counsels, not less than the men who fought the
battles of the infant Republic, were both patriotic
and wise. ADAMS, JEFFERSON, MADISON and FRANK
LIN, were none of them, men of the rd,-llAM-
ILToN was more of a statesman than soldier: vet
the peaceful lahorS OF these men were not less neces
sary to the establishment and perpctuation of our
liberties, than were the military services of
GATES or MARION, or KNOX or GREENE Their
diplomacy gained for us the valuable alliance
of France, and their wisdom planned the in
situations under which we live They gave us
our present Federal Constitution in lieu of the
loose and imperfect bond of the Confederation,
and by their prudence and moderation carried
the country triumphanty through the dangers
and vicisstudcs incident to an empty treasury
and to the first working of Il new and unried
government So with respect TO the second GEN
Grafton of Republican statcsmen-the men who
first entered public life during the war of 1872,
who attained distinction under the admins traton
OF President MONROE, and whose political career
may be said to have eliminated during that of
JACKSON No one questions but that the promi-
nent politicians Of that era were great men.
Although their lives and their labors were pro-
longed to a much later date and some of their
most distinguished services were performed subse-
quent TO the period we have named. CLAY. and
WEBSTER, and CALHOUN, must be classed as be
longing to this second epoch Their fame belongs
not to our own generation, but to that which is
passing away They only survived their contem-
porares, that we might know of verify that
there were giants in those days When WEBSTER
was laid in the grave, whittier his great compeers
had preceded him, the race Of the Anakim became
extinct. Now we may look in vain for any sue
cessors OF their greatness and their fame OF
eager asprants for public honors aud political dis
tlnctons, of greedy place-huners, noisy dema-
gogues and fourth-rate politicians, we have enough
and to spare; but when we come TO look for a
statesman
- for man with heart head hand.
Like some of the simple great ones gone
Forever and ever by,
one still strong in a blatant land
" Il an pl. ,ll