The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-06-27

four years. We should have been set ahoat
and landed the Lord knows where. That
must be a sordid people indeed-a people des-
titute of a sense of ofhoDor, equity and charao-
ter-that could submit TO be governed
and see hundreds of its most meritori-
GUS public men governed, by a Pinckney
under an elective government. Heredi-
tary government, when it imposes young,
new, and inexperienced men upon the
public, has its compensations and equivalents,
but elective government has none. mean by
this no disrespect to Mr.. Pinckney. | believe
him to be worthy man. / speak only by
comparison with others.''
This passage shows at once the weakness of
the man and the error of his party In their
view, men were neutrality-suspicious. prn-
ciples, people, were subordinate. Happily for
us, this is not the case for, if it had been,
man so fussy, so vain, and so unteachable as
Adams might have destroyed the country, in
stead of merely running the Federal party.
During the four years of Mr.. Adams ad-
ministration, Vice President Jefferson, though
presiding over the Senate and performing no
independent action, constantly grew in the
affections and the esteem of the Republi-
can leaders. His influence over those around
him was due to the captivating power of
truth, and the persuasive eloquence with
which he expounded it in conversa-
tion. He had never served his coun-
try in the field, and he was as little of an ora
tor as General Grant. He probably never
addressed a popular audience. The public
knew him as the man who had abolished in
Virginia the laws of primogeniture and the
legal supremacy of the Episcopal Church-the
twin measures which annihilated caste and
set religion free. They honored him as the
great writer who had known how to express
with force and dignity the feeling and the de-
termination of America in the Declaration of
Independence. They knew him as the man
who could forgive the violence and even the
cruelty of the revolutionists in France easier
than he could forgive the infinite turpitude of
their oppressors. These things, however,
might not have won for him the plaudits of
miscellaneous convention.
Again we find the name of Burr associated
in the Presidential canvass with that of the
illustrious Democrat. A Congressional caucus,
we again see, was not infallible in its palmest
days, since, while nominating philosopher
and statesman, it could at the same time
recommend to the people an adroit politician
man who perhaps had as little of the true
democrat in him as any one then living. Burr
was chosen by the caucus simply in Tecog-
milton of his skill as a political manager. AS
it was the State of New York which decided
the election in favor of the Republicans, it was
agreed in the caucus that the candidate for
the second Office should be New Yorker, and
Burr carried the day against Chancellor
Livingston and George Clinton, both of whom
were superior to himself in age, fortune, SER
vices, and social rank.
dastardly weapon early employed in our
Presidential contests was calumny; but the
wounds which it inflicted were never mortal.
We may assert that slander has never serious
ly harmed a public man, though it has fire.
quently aided one. Hamilton, accused of
peculation could only refute the charge by
confessing himself an adulterer but neither
the lie nor the truth lessened his influence as
politician, nor indeed lowered his character
as man for those who lamented his immo-
rality honored its frank acknowledgment.
Jefferson was denounced as an atheist, and it
was said that his plantation swarmed with the
| yellow-faced proofs of his Righteousness.
These accusations gained for him more votes
than they lost. The virtuous John Adams
was accused of importing mistresses from
England, but no one regarded the ridiculous
tale. Such calumnies as these had one perni-
cious effect: they prevented well founded
charges from being believed. Aaron Burr,
for example, was neither a moral nor an
honest man; but, in the midst of such tor
rent of groundless ISLANDERS, who could believe
that the candidate for the Vice-Presdency was
profigate or debauched? ? So, in later times,
when true representations of the violence Of
Andrew Jackson were given to the public,
people disbelieved them as a matter of course.
Skilful politicians in these modern days
have learned wisdom from the experience of
their predecessors. We have known in
stances, during the last few years, of the best
founded objections to the private character of
candidates being deliberately withheld from
the public, from the conviction that they
would benefit rather than injure.
A profound peace settled upon the politics
of the country after the Inauguration of Jeffer-
son in 1901. That great man knew the inn
portance of little things. The stately cere-
monies and tedious etiquette of the White
House were Immediately laid aside, and re-
publican simplicity characterized all the in
tercOurse between the President and his fellow
citizens. A coach and four no longer con-
veyed the President through the mire at
Washington. When Mr.. Jefferson had occa-
sion to attend at the Capitol he rode thither
on horseback unattended and tied his horse
to post before entering the building. While
such trifes as these enchanted the multitude,
wise men were gratifed to see the national
affairs conducted with dignity, wisdom and
economy, which, we truly believe, have never
been equalled in the government Of any nation.
1t cannot be that Jefferson was a chimera of
the popular imagination. No mans con-
duct and character have ever endured
so long and keen a. scrutiny as his,
and he retained to the last the vene-
ration of great majority of the American
people. Such an ascendancy as he maintained
for thirty years over the popular mind was not
due to any splendor of talent, or to the 6cIat
of military exploits; it was the honest tribute
of an intelligent people to the greatest and best
of their servants Thomas Jefferson ruled the
United States, by himself and his disciples, for
twenty -four years. Indeed, we may say with
considerable truth, that the United States has
only had four Presidents, namely-George
WTnoI, I. A,.IW Ioalr