Delaware Journal

From the National Intelligencer.

The contest is over. The Electors of President and Vice President of the United States have been chosen in almost every State of this Union; and sufficient returns have already been received to leave no doubt that a large majority of the Electors chosen are friendly to the elevation of General Jackson to the Presidency.

Should he live, therefore, to enjoy the honour, it may be regarded as certain that Andrew Jackson, of Tennessee, is to be the next President of the United States.

That this result is as contrary to our expectations as it is foreign to our wishes, abundant proof has been furnished by our columns for the last two years, and especially for the last six months.

The grounds of our opposition to the election of the General to the Presidency, it were needless here diffusively to repeat. They are in possession of our readers, and may be traced in broad characters on our columns. Avoiding all reference to alleged defects of personal character, of which we had no sufficient information to enable us to urge them--resting solely on the records of the country, and undisputed public testimony, we have believed, and have constantly represented his habits of action to be unfavourable to the discreet exercise of that subdued authority which belongs to the chief executive officer of a Republic, the sovereignty of which resides in the Representatives of the People and of the States in Congress assembled. We have exclusively of any such objection, been opposed most decidedly to his election, for the reason, that he was supported for the Presidency solely on the ground of military achievement, and imputed military talents and that he would owe his elevation, if chosen, to the principle which has been destructive of those eminent Republics, of whose existence History affords the only trace, except the monuments of their fallen grandeur, which antiquarian research can scarcely detect in the deserts by which they are encompassed.

We have founded our disbelief of the event which is now known to have occurred, upon the trust that we have had in the intelligence of the People, and in their respect for the lessons of experience and for the advice of contemporary wisdom. The disbelief has been strengthened by concurrent testimony, which appears to us to be entitled to credit, that a majority of the virtuous and enlightened of our land were arrayed in favour of the present Administration, under the conviction, in which we have fully participated, that its only object has been the public good--the protection of all the interests of the country, the cultivation of its resources, and the prosecution of the legitimate and laudable ends of Republican Government

In the total disappointment of our wishes and our expectations, by the result of this contest, we can truly say, with the illustrious Jefferson, that our confidence in the durability of this Government has been more impaired than by any other event which has occurred since its existence. Not that we fear that during the Administration of Gen. Jackson, the sovereign power will be usurped, or the Union dissolved. Of these dire events we have no immediate apprehension. But the event has demonstrated that it is in the power of a few wily intriguers, availing themselves of the casual popularity of the successful soldier, to possess themselves of the high places of the Republic, to the exclusion of talent, virtue, and eminent public merit, sedulously and successfully devoted to the promotion of the best interests of the country. It has established (more ominously still,) that the People of this Republic are not proof against the glare and the delusion of military fame; and that, though the Republic may be safe under Andrew Jackson, with but a few regiments of well disposed soldiers in camp or garrison, it may, at some day, not far distant, become, under the same sort of influence, subject to the sway of some soldier of fortune, with victorious legions under his command, whose large ambition, the constitutional honours of the country may suffice not to gratify.

So much for the forebodings of what may happen in time to come. We will, for the present dwell no longer upon that painful theme.

Assuming for fact that General Jackson is to be President of the United States for the next term of that office, we wish that his Administration may redound to his own honour, and to the national prosperity : that he may follow in the footsteps of the illustrious men who have preceded him in office that ; for his landmarks and guides, he may take their submission to the laws, their regard for personal rights, their devotion exclusively to the public good; that he may repel the officious intrusion of the interested counsellors by whom he will find himself surrounded, and listen to the dictates only of good morals and of a sound discretion : that, in his public policy, he will cultivate harmony at home, and peace abroad : that he will, in short, so conduct the affairs of the Government, as to disappoint all the predictions and all the fears of his adversaries, and fulfil all the hopes of his honest supporters.

We hope he will live. The distraction of the country, which would be caused by his death, may be faintly imagined, but with no approach to the reality of its evils.

For ourselves, we have a plain path before us. The public good our polar star, by it shall we direct our steps; trusting that our friends, who travel with us in pursuit of that object, will never have occasion to complain that we have ever deceived or deserted them. Peace abroad, perfect toleration at home, and the cultivation of the intellectual and physical resources of the country—these are the cardinal principles of good government: and to these objects this print will be devoted hereafter, as it is now, and has been heretofore.

Of Mr. Adams, the incumbent of the Presidency, we cannot trust ourselves now to speak as we think he deserves. History will record the merits of his prosperous and peaceful administration of public affairs: and posterity, if not the present generation, will render homage to his more than Roman virtues.