Republican Herald

OUR NEXT PRESIDENT

The following article from the "Southern Reformer," published in Jackson, Mississippi, is a suitable answer, for the present joyous occasion, to the oft-repeated inquiry of "Who is James K. Polk?"

"HE DOES NOT NEED TO HIDE HIS LIFE UNDER THE SCREEN OF ANOTHER MAN'S SANCTITY."—Such is the great and noble character of James K. Polk, the people's choice for the presidency of the American Union. We have beheld him from his earliest career in public life, with the deepest emotions of sympathy and regard. A poor but high-minded youth, he sheds the lustre of his early genius around his fellow classmates, at school and at college. It was in the dark recesses of the forest, where the light of his intellect first burst forth: it was there where dwelt the poor settler on the public domain; where industry and virtue plied the plough and the axe; where temperance and religion guided human destinies; where all were equal, and felt their equality, that the morning hours of James K. Polk gilded the page of his history. Next, we find him, grown into vigorous manhood, honored with the confidence of his friends and neighbors with a seat in the Legislative halls of Tennessee. His conduct in that important body strikes out for him still higher honors. Eloquent in speech, honest in principle, zealous in the support of democratic measures, vigilant in his duties to his constituents, entertaining always a profound respect for the sovereign power of his countrymen, the same people who supported him for the present office call upon him to enter the Congress of the representatives of the nation.

Transferred to a new sphere of action; among men who were unknown to him; all ambitious of distinction, men of great genius and talents; many selected for their abilities, by the most refined portions of the republic; he was again left to the weight of his own merits, either to sink as many had done before, like meteors transient in the air, or rise as had risen his former genius, the brightest constellation in the galaxy around. It was but a brief hour in his existence that his name was unknown. First a young man, chosen from among grey-headed sires, we find him the active member of the Committee on Foreign Relations—a pilot at the helm of the nation's affairs with the whole governments of the earth. Land of the old hickory! how proud shouldst thou feel. Another step in the ladder of fame is taken, and the people's representatives have placed him in the chair of the Committee of Ways and Means—the great wheel upon which turns the whole financial policy of the nation; and last, as if closing his career in that body with the same unsullied glory which clusters around the summer's evening sun, his virtues, intelligence, statesmanship, the influence of a mighty mind, have won for him the admiration, the respect of all his confederates, and over them he is chosen to preside—honored with the highest office in one of the halls of the nation's Congress.

The democracy of the Union can dwell upon his career in that body as one of the proudest niches in the fane of her champions. Always consistent in his political principles and powerful in his eloquence, he grappled, with herculean arm, the hydra-headed monsters that peered their heads from the measures of our opponents. With Jackson, he crushed the bank, and laid its head in the dust; he opposed the wild excesses of Clay; fought on the side of public economy and constitutional right; defended the revolutionary pensioners and urged the rights of the settler on the public lands. His course was frank, bold, and decided. He fought for principle, and for it would have sacrificed his life.

The Union thanked him; every patriot loved him; and his people honored him with the gubernatorial chair of his State. Truly may we say, Jas. K. Polk "does not need to hide his life under another man's sanctity." He has strode the rough road of preferment—met the warmest opposition of the enemy at every step; braved all attacks in triumph; braved them with a pure and unsullied character; an undying resolution to defend the right, shone forth before the country with the fires of his own intellect, the promptings of patriotism, and love of country: a desire to do good unto all men: and, like Cincinnatus of old, he has been called forth from the retirement of his farm, and, while his ambition wandered no farther than his fireside, to preside over the destinies of his country. How glorious a life! how high a testimony of public virtue! Proudly may we record the name of James K. Polk as one of the illustrious examples of the character of the American republic.