Richmond Enquirer

General Bolivar's Projet.

We regret the political aberrations of this distinguished man. So strange did they appear, that some persons were disposed to doubt their existence. The proposition to choose an irresponsible President for life, with a contingent power to choose his successor, appeared to them to be a quiz—and to some as a mere trick to ridicule the "safe precedent" of Mr. Clay.—But we have no doubt about the truth of the statement: and we have now before us the entire "Address of Gen. Bolivar, to the constituent Congress of Bolivia, accompanying the plan of a Constitution for the Government of that State." In this Address we are astonished to find such sentiments, as the following, from any statesman who professes to study the principles of "the most democratic republic." But our regret is equal to our astonishment, when we see them gravely advocated by the illustrious man, who has deserved the title of the Liberator of the South.

"The President of the Republic is to be in our constitution as the Sun which, placed in the centre, gives life to the universe. This supreme authority ought to be perpetual; because, in systems without hierarchies, there is more necessarily than in others for a fixed point, round which magistrates and citizens, persons and things may revolve Give me a fixed point, said an ancient, and I will move the world For Bolivia, this point is a President for life. In him, all our order is supported, without holding him responsible for this action: His head has been cut off, that nobody may tear his intentions: and his hands have been tied, that he may do harm to nobody.

"The President of Bolivia partakes of the faculties of the American Executive, but with restrictions favourable to the people. His term of office is that of the President of Haiti. I have taken for Bolivia, the Executive of the most democratic republic in the world."

He next descants upon the office of V. President, who is to be chosen by the President to succeed him—and then fortifies his regulation by the practice of our government, of which he speaks as follows:

"In the government of the United States the practice has finally been observed, of naming the chief minister to succeed the President. Nothing is so convenient in a Republic as this method, it unites the advantage of placing an experienced person in the management of the state. When he enters upon the discharge of his functions, he comes ready prepared, and brings with him the gale of popularity and a consummate practice This idea has possessed my mind, and I have established it as a law"

These reasons may now appear very conclusive to Mr. Clay; though his friends at the late election objected in the most pointed manner to this Cabinet Succession; he may consider it now as a very "safe precedent"—but, to make it a "precedent," a "practice," or a "law," does not comport with our ideas of the genius of a Republic. Tempora mutantur! In 1820, Mr. Clay's Committee perhaps Mr. Clay himself treated it as a dangerous practice. In 1826, Mr. Clay denominates it as "a safe precedent." Let us beware of doing what Bolivar has done—erect it into a "law."