Year: 1872

|


and Other Officers-Power the Prerogntive


From the New York Word.


"The revolving absurdities Of the


present year." as you we'll described


them, in alluding to the two nomina-


tions for President made last summer,
whereby the people reduced to such
''repulsive alternatives" and the dis
graceful scenes we have recently wit


messed during the pedency of the Presi-
| Dental struggle just over, would seem


to call more loudly than ever for an en-


tire change in the mode of electing the
| President and Vice President of the
| United States.


To dilate further upon the outrageous
corruptions as we'll as further expose


the ludicrous burlesque by which the
| whole business of nomination and elec-


ton to Office is now nearly everywhere,
from beginning to end, characterized,
! besmeared and degraded-to exhibit in
all its aeformity a true picture of the
| debasement to which SO many of our
the total disregard of common decorum
(witnesB the 'gift enterprise" as it has
| been well called, not to say common
honesty, so often seen in high places,
till the moral sense of the people has


come to be no longer shocked by the
familiar spectacle, indicating too plainly
the downward tendency of the republic,
and giving rise to the gravest apprehen-
sions for the future of America-to do
all this as it ought to be done, with the
requisite fullness and requisite strength,
and a faithful compliance with the Wig
orous demands of truth, is, confess,
beyond me, and might well task the
efforts of the ablest pens. But an ap


Proclamation to the truth may be made,
and this l will attempt, however imper-
feet the performance.


Hence it becomes an object of the
first importance to afford to the people
who America are the source of all
power, who, according to all writers
upon the theory of popular government,
always intend and mean to do right, and
amongst whom, when all can be heard
from, the good are always found in the
majority-such an opportunity of ex-
pressing their unbiased sentiments, and


exercising through the polls their un-
| biased choice, as may enable them to


procure the services of the best men to
carry on the operations of government.
Happily for America there are plenty of
such men. But is this done now? No :;
it is never done, or done only in the
rarest instances. On the contrary, we
have livcd to see in practice, ana of late
with arlarming frequency, the very re-
verse; we have lived to see the worst
and most incompetent men in the high
est, as well as all other, seats of power,
even before the republic has completed
the first century of it's existencel


And yet it can be done was intende I
by the trainers of the Constitution to be
done, as in the provision, long since
practically set at naught, of an Eelec-
toral College for the choice of President
and President; and if the people
are only true to themselves and their
noble inheritance, it must and will yet
be done.


Common as is the adage it is none the
less true that when things get to their
worst they must mend, and it is always
the darkest hour which precedes the
dawn. Before suggesting the RENE iy
let US see how far l am borne out by the
facts in asserting that things have now
got to their worst. Without thorough
comprehension Of the evil it would be
idle to attempt a cure. knowledge Is
power in this as in all cases.


Let me ask, then, how at this moment
do the people of the United States, who,
remember, are the only sovereign power
we recognize, go to work practically to
| enlist the services of such men as they
require to conduct the operations of
| their svernment? l dwell upon the
attribute of sovereignty as inherent in
| the people, because while in the abstract
| none dare deny the fundamental truth,
| but are forced on the contrary to admit
it, think1 shall be able to show that


for all practical purposes there is an
other vocabulary in use in America, par
| ticularly at certain seasons, ding to


which all power re, ides in the politi-
clans, who therefore, in reality, alone
possesses the sovereignty usurping the
substance while leaving to the people
| the shadow and semblance. Hence the
inquiry suggested may be instructive,
and may lead to reflections with which
perhaps we have not been in the habit
of overburdening ourselves, and yet of
the estimportance to our well-being
as nation.


Now, with reference to the mode of
selecting the President and Vice Presi-
dent, who, as the two highest officers of
government, are chiefly to my purpose,
| we all know that this is cow done
through the medium of a precious


"nomination" by national conven-
| tion' of delegates" These delegates
are for the most part the delegates of
other delegates" to Estate conven-


tion," who again have derived their ap-


pointment Certainly in some of the
States) from another set of "delegates"
to number of "county conventions" !"
and who are supposed to be ''fresh from
the people"-how "fresh" we shall see.
There is thus a threefoll transmission
of sovereignty, of which the strength,


according to one French writer, is three
times diminished in the transmission.
The people, who alone possess the sov-
ereignty in its undiminished strength,
and with all its original attributes of
freedom of thought as we'll as action,
have parted with it in favor of agents


and so-called representatives, who can
| only possess and therefore only exercise,


it diluted threefold, as compared with


the original source from which it ema-
] mated. If anything be true, this Is.


Parted with it, did l say2 In other


words, these agents and so-called repre-


sentatives, too often and too many of


them, an unblushing race, have helped


themselves to the coveted sovereignty,


as we shall see, often without even 30


much as saying, by your leave.


Bat can even the first set of "delegates,


supposed to be 'fresh from the people"


be regarded in reality as representa-


tives OF the people in the true sense or


in any sense? If not, then the second