Martinsburg Gazette And Public Advertiser

FROM THE RICHMOND WHIG.

ARGUMENTS:
In favour of Gen Jackson for the Presidency.

1 He is from a slave-holding state, and is himself a slave-holder. As it has been the fortune of the slave-holding states to furnish four out of six Presidents, it is but just that they should continue to furnish the first Magistrate in time to come, If it be objected that their population is only one-third or less of the Union --and that all the states having entered the Confederacy on equal terms, and with equal privileges, the spirit of the compact is violated by restricting the selection of a President to the population of a favored section--we reply, that the objection is impudent and frivolous if we have in the Constitution admitted the Northern States into the Union on equal terms, nature herself has established no such equality. By assigning us an immeasurable intellectual and moral superiority over our northern brethren, she has plainly declared her intention of conferring on us the advantages incident to that superiority. It is enough for the Northern States to enjoy the benefits of safety of person, property and religion, and the general protection of the Government. Their arrogance in desiring more, is an insult to the dignity of the South That they should aspire to fill the first office of the government, is an indignity to that monopoly of genius and talent which we have always claimed. This argument is sufficient, if all others were wanting, to prove the superior claims and qualifications of Gen. Jackson for President--but others are not wanting.

2. He obtained the victory of New Orleans. The experience of Athens, Rome, England, France, and all other Republics, that have been, demonstrates that Liberty is no where so safe as in the keeping of military men. Alexander the Great in Greece--Marius, Sylla and Julius Cesar at Rome--Oliver Cromwell in England, and Bonaparte in France--furnish striking examples of the truth of the proposition. The circumstances that Gen. Jackson gained a glorious victory--that his army shot down thousands of the enemy from behind intrenchments, with perfect safety to their own persons--and that the infatuation or folly of that enemy exposed him an easy and unresisting prey to our troops--these circumstances irresistibly prove that the general is well qualified to be President--that he perfectly understands the complicated machinery of our Government, our relations with foreign powers, the intricacies of diplomacy, and the history of the Constitution and the Country in all their relations, departments and details. Can there be a doubt that, he gained so signal and bloody a victory, could write as good a valedictory as Gen. Washington, or as admirable an inaugural as Mr. Jefferson? Will his ability to superintend the affairs of the Nation, treasury, army and navy estimates the interests of our commerce; agriculture and manufactures---our Treaties and negotiations with foreign powers, be questioned? "It is for the dull capacities of a Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe to acquire knowledge of civil Government by long experience, painful application and slow degrees--the genius of a Jackson spurns the means, and soars above the necessity. He is one of "Nature's Great Men," and came into the world ready gifted to execute the most arduous trusts, and to play with equal success, the soldier and the statesman. What others acquire by education, comes to him by nature--not "reading and writing" merely, but knowledge of Constitutions, Laws and History. Instinct and intuition supply to him the stores hardly earned by the patient industry of less favored mortals. This is incontestibly established by the battle of New Orleans, and of the Horse Shoe.

3. His bold decision of character. This is a most necessary qualification for a president. The Constitution absurdly limits the powers of a President to the execution of the laws, denying him all original power. Occasions may, arise when the slow forms of the Constitution might in the opinion of the President, be incompatible with public safety and convenience --it is therefore, of the utmost importance that he should be of a temper to treat the provisions of the Constitution with the contempt they deserve, and, to exercise legislative or judicial authority, if he deem it expedient. In this respect, Gen Jackson has shown himself admirably qualified for the Chief Magistracy. He has suspended the Writ of Habeas Corpus by his own authority--executed Arbuthnot and Ambrister, in defiance of the sentence of the legitimate tribunal--and made War upon Spain, without consulting Congress. Let his opponents for the Presidency, before they dispute the superiority of his claims, adduce instances of equal vigor and decision of character in themselves We may imagine a state of things in time of peace, when this self dependent spirit would be as advantageous as in time of war. Congress might refuse to carry into effect some recommendation deemed necessary by the President-- they might dispute some power to which he laid claim--they might defeat by a majority, all the measures of his administration. It is proper that in such a contingency, the President should have the spirit as he has the right, to redress himself --by dissolving or Cromwellizing the Assembly, or cutting off the ears of refractory and conspicuous Members. Fortunately for his pretensions, Gen. Jackson has proved himself competent to meet such an exigency; for the late Mr. Eppes, then a Senator in Congress, presumptuously supposing himself entitled to investigate Gen. Jackson's conduct in the Seminole War, and even to pass censure on him, was threatened on the spot with a loss of his ears. If when a simple General, he could publicly threaten an act of that nature, and be with difficulty restrained from executing it, what may we not hope from promptness and decision, when he comes to be President of the United States?

4. Another argument is urged in favor of the General by a few of the knowing ones--which we must be excused from attempting to reconcile with the popular opinions of his civil talents. It is, that knowing himself to be incompetent to manage the great machine of Government, as being devoid of all experience, he will be under the necessity of throwing himself into the arms of his secretaries--who thus will enjoy the substance of power--while the General will be content with the shadow: As many are looking forward to be his Secretaries, this is a most convincing argument with the leading men--and stimulates their zeal for the "hero," to a pitch of enthusiasm The bait is so tempting to ambition, that it is supposed Mr. Calhoun may be seduced to descend from the dignity of the Vice Presidency to grasp it, and to be placed in the more direct line of succession. This argument is studiously concealed from the great mass of the people--the victory of New Orleans is sufficient to determine their suffrages.