Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1861-1862, 1861-12-18
RICHMOND. VA. WEDNESDAY MORNING, DECEMBER

+ de would nave lCDOuy pty nls eiefdHon.
public purec would not be sqlandered the public OF
fees degraded in plying his political debis he wou'
have few political or personal plr.isans and, o
course would appoint few noas such TO Office. Enii
nsnt talent and true vrue would sand up'n their jus
preepsion in competition for tao higher offices and en
poyments within the gif. Of the executive. He woult
have inducement to remoye good tteer, merely be
cause he was appointed BY bis predrc ssor There
would in fact be no motive for putting in or
of Office mer ly for the sake of his political tenets The
oaly ambition or desire a Pre:ident 80 chosen could
have would be that the aft irs of government during
| his term, should be well Administered. Hs would bC
naturally indsposed disturb worthy Incumbent, for
fear the public service might suffer by Ihe change.
l. is needless farther eaumera'e the benehts that
wo,ll ensue from this m ode of clectng President
would be but TO rscspuate the evils of the present plan
which this mode would avoid, and most Of which have
been welt upon already. IL will be more pr f.sbie 70
anticipate and answer some Of the objections that may
be urged against suoh mode.
Among the frst th. will suggest itself to most
of intelligence is the difficulty Of getting the most CON
peteat head to the Government IL has alreaey been
sufficiently remarked upon, how little the present plan
is calculated TO ensure that IL is believed the pro-
posed p IN Is fully well calculated TO ensure the pos
session of adequ virtue and talent by our Presdent
and the choice be made from those designated by the
To- without the bias Of party influence is much better
calculated TO ensure that o ct The Office of elector
si BE- sufficiently dgnied and important to be sought
by the first mon OF the respective States, whs. the re-
noeness Of the chances in favor OF any one man vii
prevent Its serving lure to the unworthy ambitious.
Men will lack the motive seek the station Of eleetor
IN despite OF all fair claims aud pretentons to It. The
States would be emulous Of showing forth their very
bss. men upon such OCCASION, ard Of presenting to
the nations such would be beat calculated to tras NJ
ten ion towards them qlah to fill the station, proyi
ded they came within The lot. Il would rarely bapp2n
that person would be elected eec who did
possess fair character and respectable abilities The7c
are Gil that requisite for good President II he be
a man of transcendent ability, he Directs and leads the
whole Government. II OF inferior capacity the other
functionaties control and lead him. |, would he haz
ardng little to predict that the electoral college would
be all that the selected aleas aud distinguished vire
Of the nation could make Is If it even approximated
such condition as that, IL could not well be that the
chapter Of accident under such system, cOull
give US president less qualified fer the off &c taan
large mai ry OF the crowned heads of Europe. The
more ridiculous caDrices OF bild fortune sufficiently
guarded against By the number which the lot woad be
required present 10 the eec for selection II is
impossible to believe but what of the would
possss pre.ensions both to casracter and capae.
ty far above An average Of the governors Of our
States. That average would be very Sufficient. Oar
Government no more than that Of other people, re-
quires az all times, and iadspensabiy, Executive
head Of saperemnent ability. II IL does it will requse
what il will seldom have. Elch country grows sac5
m4n abou. in a century. Alter ths alainnsnt OF
cerAin not y,ry elevated point Of mental culivadon
the actual difference between Ia much less than Is
commonly supposed The gairish talents that produce
the admired aud popular hero and orator are not a.
ways sccompilied By those qualities best sled for the
ways bold aud rGs.less inaovator In science and gov
ernmeat. The mediocre man ls content TO lot very well
alone. o. the two, ne generally tho safer AID there
fore better, head of repabic Zoe one is an5i
tious Of sgns;zng his 6lrecr By something grand and
new; the other is content to move smoothly on in the
beaten path. .r-H-.. ....
b. law, or immemorial custom the senior alderman
Of London ia always made Mayor Of that city, aad the
Plan works well enough; az least no complaints have
been heard OF the city suffering on ac,ount Of the u
competency OF any Of its Mayors TIE given
for the law custom is that the evil Of competition
for the Office IL than that of the worst mayor that
can For that reason, Virginia and Kentucky
gavs the sheriff ty to the Oldest magistrate Of the county,
and oher Satos n-e, In general proviied with bet
ter sheriff. The people OF Kentucky aer eight or Ine
years trial Of the evs attending the election of sheriff
went back almost unanimously, 20 the old plan Aud
may also say Of the Presidency, that the evils o
competition for the office than the Pres
ilent ii can possibly oome under the proposed pal
TIE game that played for the Presidency is doubt
very pleasant game tAoss who play aud get all the
profit but il IL poor game for the nation that pays all
the expense aud gets than share OF the gains
II may be very intoxicating to the vanity of the players
TO have all at oggerheads aud throttlng each ohcr
whilst We are determining which of them Is the grestes
a very amusing game tc certain minor partcipator5 in
the play who love the excitement and make their own
smaller profits out Of the sport. To the nation at large
1t affords neither amusemen. profit and the expense
Is beyond endurance II the opposition of the players
to the proposed change eau be bought of in other
way the nation well afford to pospone its taking az
fec, for ten eel years aod thus )rd the pefont
batch Of players ample opportunity to play Que their
gims For one, however, am not for buying of that
opposition at any such price but vote for blocking the
game for once aud forever.
Another objection that may be suggested to tbh pro-
posed change s that from the mode of CHOICE person
might be selected whose views of policy would be dit
ferent from those of minority OF the nation, and he
might tbwart settlsd policy during his who'll term
II be honestly dschasge his duty, he viii nfver allow
his own individual opinion to weigh against and over.
rule the settled will Of decided m'jority Of the nation
But more satisfactory answer the objections is
that with the proposed reduction OF the power he
will not b, able 50 to obs.ruo. the national will.
Il may also be objected, that, the proposed pan
takes from ambition sure and legal path TO he highest
office in the country ii will force another for itself
through breach in the constitution. This is iie
fear. This country has nothing to fear romsn usurper
until the body of its people shall hive become
tho:olglY corrupted by party exctments and
under any system. So far from ils being
defect 1t is deemed chief excellence o. the proposed
plsn, that IL will set this barrier to heff,rts OF amb
ton that 1t so places the ecIve ohce that it
no. certainly DO attained through anl amount of ini-
vidual party effort and that ambition may exhaust
all It's energies, and torrunOn expsa all its stores,
without any certainty OF success.
Another objection though in trub mono at all to the
intrinsic propriety of some such change, is deemed
worthy OF notice. from the fact OF Is bsug the only OBJ.
lection that has been urg any of the many in.
iivduas to whom is has been fggested that is, that
the peo pie will not assent the hapge. I;i singular
that in government like ourssu idea should be
seriously nisted on, by men Q every Igrade from tie
highest to the lowest who VII at ths same time, en-
qusEhedly assent to the Importance aud fines
Of the proposed chang, Il unfortunately .owng 70
the babtual dstrust winch un feels towards his elos
m sn and the dissemination Of that daily increasing d
trust OF popular virtue and intelligence which Is one'
among the ef cts IL it mJ not be called an evil OF the
present system. IL wonp seem to be time enough to
pas1 such aweeplng ccn,dre upon tho people, when the
PROPOSE lon shall have been presented to US and cted
Nothixg can be more delusvs than that s.lf-esecni
which ascribing all virtue and Intelligence to ourssvq
allows none, or but comparatively Rtll', to our nea'
bora We hsve 10 the mass OF s1cety, or 10. th'
of IL which suid and controls the balance in ee