The New York Herald

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Washington.

[Correspondence of the New York Herald.]

WASHINGTON, 20th Nov. 1845

"Do you play at whist, Emperor?" inquired Madame de Stael. "No," said Napoleon. "What do you play at?" "At Kings," was the reply. So is it with James K. Polk. I am fast coming to the conclusion that before Congress has been together many hours, the Colonel will answer that very significant question, "Who is Mr. Polk?"

One of the most sensible, and really one of the greatest men in the whig party, was heard to say not many days ago, "This Oregon question is becoming the greatest question of the civilized world since the battle of Waterloo. It will involve the ruin of the whig party, it is true; and this, of course, I don't like, but I can hardly keep myself out of the current that I perceive clearly is drifting on to the shores of the Pacific. In spite of my whig principles, and in spite of my own convictions, almost of right and wrong, I feel like taking up the Oregon cry that is going up from every State in the Union. The fact is, we have reached, as Bennett says—('d—n the fellow, he is always more than half right, and then he passed one of those splendid eulogiums upon yourself that nobody can withhold, from Queen Victoria up to Louis Philippe, and from him up to Colonel Polk; but never mind such things—you are too used to them to be vain)—"yes, as Bennett says, (aye, he is a shrewd fellow)—we have reached our National Rubicon—this time at least it is as he says. We are on the eve of an astounding revolution in Church and State. All the elements of social and political feeling are awake. The feeling that has slumbered in the bosoms of two generations of toilers, and of speculators; that noble national feeling that rolled the car of independence through battle and blood for seven years, is now awake, and it is coming forth in its strength."

This was an honest confession—and I doubt not it speaks the feeling of nine out of ten of the American people. The whig party would naturally have dissolved after their last defeat, since there is no great principle of moment to bind them together—but their complete annihilation must be the result of trying to breast themselves up against popular national enthusiasm. They will gain nothing by parading the interminable array of British fleets, and talking about standing armies—England has no cause for hostilities on the Oregon question, and even if she had she will probably have enough to do to take care of herself. For four years the popularity of Sir Robert's government, and even the stability of the throne, have rested on the mercy of good harvests. A few shiners, more or less, decided the question. Now we are anxiously looking for the news by the next steamer. What it will be, no man who knows England need hesitate to foretell. If the potato crop proves as great a failure as the last advices seemed to apprehend, some millions of angry, gleaming eyes will be turned on England from that land whose people's bread is a root, men dug out of the ground. Repeal will rise as bread rises, and a spirit of revolution will go through the famished ranks of Irish population as the pestilence goes—as the tornado marches. I should not be surprised if the news by the next steamer should tell us that in the prospect of a winter of suffering and of want, repeal had again started bolder, wilder, more furious than ever. But we shall see. At least, the Almighty seems to be so shaping the course of events in both hemispheres, as to give a new and unlooked for extension of our empire and our liberty. In the old world the human race has been the plaything of tyranny—all England has proved, by her system of government, founded by William the Conqueror, and consolidated through successive ages, is, that when a few men, a privileged class, have the supreme power in their hands, they can legislate the millions into the dust! As a question of philosophy, of humanity, of christian liberty, it might be worth asking how far the mission we have to fill may require us to arrest this vast engine of power and corruption even upon the millions of Europe, Africa and Asia, and the islands of the sea.

Our brothers—our own free born Americans—have crossed the distant mountains, that cast their blue tops into the skies of Missouri; and gone down their western slopes, into that broad vale that is laved by the waves that come rolling in from China. And these brothers ask our protection. The President has told them they shall have it, and his word will not be broken, unless the democratic party are recreant to all their principles, and desert their leader in the hour of issue of hope, of anxiety, and of triumph.

Mr. Polk's merit has had little to do in bringing on this wonderful crisis, which will involve the clash of nations—the shock of the old age and the new. It is the end of an era in human history—a climax in the progress of nations. Such events are under the control of super-human agencies—of super human power. But how we are to bear ourselves in the midst of such grand and exciting issues, depends, in a great measure, upon the wisdom, the firmness, and the patriotism of the President. His diplomacy for eight months has had much to do in shaping events—and the policy revealed by his message, will decide, in some measure, how we are to conduct ourselves. While Mr. Polk is not a man to seek an occasion for pushing upon Great Britain an unjust demand while her throne is rocking "in the heated, fever dreams of famine," yet he will consider it fortunate for his administration, that a crisis seems to be approaching in the affairs of the British empire, which will cripple her power to disturb the peace of the world, because we do not yield to her unjust claims—because we do not allow her lion to trample along our borders.

Don't neglect to send me the extra containing the foreign news by the first steamer; you must also send me the regular Herald. For several days I have not got a sight of the paper till twelve o'clock. The news boy says he cannot keep one for me; somebody gets it away from him. Just at the present time, particularly, there is an intense anxiety to learn the next foreign news—and, of course, we shall get it through the Herald quicker than any other channel. If things look dark in Great Britain and Ireland, the news will color the message. The parts and parcels of this important document are all written; but, as printers say, it is not made up. Probably no President in the history of the country, has ever had so glorious a crisis to deal with as James K. Polk—the nation's eye is fixed on his movements. No time for items of news.

MACHIAVELLI.