The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1884-06-21
The Presidency.


While the doctrine of availability
continues to be regarded as OF so much
Importance in the selection of caudi-
date for the Presidency, it may be that
personal qualifications for the office
will be less considered than they should
be. The political ability of this or that
prominent man to carry certain States
is, doubtless, matter to he considered.
but the most important inquiry after all
is. what sort of President will the in
dividual be should he happen to be
chosen? We shall, therefore, do our best
to describe the kind of statesman fitted
to become the candidate of the Demo-
cratic party in the coming election.
The first and foremost qualification.
in our opinion, is a thorough knowledge
of and devotion to the Constitution.
There are many prominent men in the
Democratic party who are very able
politicians, bat who are not American
statesmen in the highest sense. 1t must
never be forgotten that this Federal
Government is government OF limited
and specific powers, and that what the
Democracy has to do is to take the gov
eminent out of the hands of party
which has abused those powers, and to
restore it to the true path of the Con-
stitution. Knowledge, intricate knowl-
edge, of what the Constitution is. is es-
sential in a President, not only because
he is coordinate branch OF the legis-
islative power, but because the execu-
tive duties involve the constant
exercise of functions whose sole
guide is to be found in the writ
ten text of the fundamental law. In the
management Of the foreign relations of
this country President can be mate
rally aided by an able and accom-
plished Secretary of State. But even
in foreign relations it must be remem-
bered that Secretary of State is but
the adviser and instrument of the Pres
ident, and that the President himself is
the functionary who has to decide ev-
erything; so that along with thor
ough Knowledge of the constitutional
scope of the treaty-making power, the
President should possess learning that
is peculiar to the province OF interna-
tional law, diplomatic usage and the
diplomatic history of this country. This
kind of knowledge is not to be acquired
in a day, or to be put into a man by
any process of ''cramming." But in
the administration of the informal af-
fairs Of this government President
who does not possess an intimate ac-
quaintance with the principles of the
Constitution, its limitations of power,
its relations to the States and the peo-
pie. however good politician he may
be in party tactics, will not answer the
demands of the present cxigency. Per-
haps we have never had President
who came nearer to filling all the quail
ifications for the office than did MIR.
Jefferson. He was not only highly ac-
complished general statesman, but he
was sound constitutional jurist; and.
although he had no direct hand
in making the Constitution, he
not only understood it thoroughly,
but as soon as he understood
it, and ever afterward, he interpreted it
with that degree of strictness which is
necessary to preserve it in harmony
with the reserved rights of the States
and the people. Above all, Jefferson
was believer in popular government
and general suffrage. His Democracy
% VI euot SCAuiuC w pc VAiiSu hOiuo w
the exercise of popular power through
the appropriate department of gov
eminent of laws, and the defined re-
straints which people have imposed
on their servants and on themselves.
We have reached a stage of things in
which there are numerous men in the
Republican party who do not believe in
popular government or in general
suffrage, who would gladly embrace
any pretext for Transforming our Gov
eminent into something very different
from what it is. and we must not lose
sight of the extreme facility with which
kind of revolution could be accom-
plished, by which we might lose the
Constitution and its popular govern
ment almost without being aware that
the process was going on 1t is a mar
vel that the Constitution has been pre-
served to US through the turbulent and
dangerous period that followed the
civil war. 1t was no intention of many
of the men who then had the govern
ment of affairs that the Constitution
should be restored to its supreme au-
thority. 1t has been saved in spite of
them and their Vaccinations, and now
what is needed is that the executive
power should be committed to the
hands of some man who will make it
the guide Of all his acts, and so COM
plete the work that remains to be done.
Other personal qualifications can be
easily described, and they do not merely
go to make up an ideal President. All
honest men will agree that personal in
tegrity, high intelligence, moral cour-
age, simplicity of manners and of life,
power to institute and carry out needed
reforms, power to make even party
machinery and political domination
work for the good of the country, an
all-embracing patriotism. an absence of
sectional feeling and an inhexible de-
termination 70 do right, are the qualities
that we need in President; and while
these qualifications make up the beau
ideal of Chief Magistrate, they are at
the same time qualities which may be
found in some mon and, therefore, they
are not mere abntractions. We could
name half dozen men in the Demo