adulation during the honeymoon of which his inauguration was the centre, were filling their columns with long and loud complaints, if not abuse.  And what was the chief burden of their invective?  It was the manner in which he distributed his patronage.  In short, they were discontented with the share they received of the loaves and fishes, and thus the target of their adulation during the summer of hope, became the butt for their abuse in the winter of disappointment.

There is another subject connected with these elections, which speaks with warning voice against the presumable advantage of democracy.  I would not be misunderstood as casting the slightest reflection upon the amiable qualities, intellectual powers, or administrative talents of any American citizen who has been raised to the Presidency during later years.  Let any candid reader, however, whether English or American, look at the following lists of Presidents since the Constitution, and he cannot fail to observe that while the franchise was restricted in nearly every State, those called to that high post were the marked men of the highest talent in the country—­men whose reputation and abilities were patent to the whole community; while, with the increase of democracy, those selected during later years are men who, whatever their virtues and capabilities, were comparatively unknown.  In the case of General Franklin Pierce, he was never even named by the community; but, as we have shown, was selected by the Convention at the eleventh hour, as a compromise of political partisanship.  Let us not forget, that while some of the later Presidents were elected, Calhoun, Clay, and Webster—­whose names are the just pride of the Republic, and household words in every family—­were passed over.[CF] Surely these simple facts may afford us subject for profitable reflection.

We will now pass on from the Governor of the Republic to the Governors of individual States.  Their salaries vary in different States, and range from 300l. to 2000l. a-year.  Their election is in some States by the people, in others by the legislature:  their term of office varies; in some States the election is annual, and in all for a very limited period; and under them each separate State has its own House of Representatives and its Senate.  The chief power, which resides in the Governor alone, is that of pardon; and here we may observe, that it is only reasonable to suppose that so enlightened a community as the United States would not for any considerable number of years have tolerated the most flagrant abuse of such a power as that of pardon; and consequently that if it be found that such abuse do now exist, it must have grown with the ever-growing democratic element.