selves to nominate a candidate
for the Presidential chair, who was not fettered by any particular
followers, and from whom all parties hoped they would receive some share
of the loaves and fishes as a reward for their support. The electors
endorsed the new selection of the Convention, and General Pierce, lately
commanding a brigade in the Mexican war, was elected by a most
astounding majority. Scarcely any President was ever elected with such
all-but unanimity, and the Press was equally undivided in its praises.
Every paper I read, in every place I passed through, was full of the
most unbounded eulogy. But mark the change a few months made. Before
the end of the year, one-half of that Press, which had bespattered him
with such fulsome 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