The incidents in anticipation of the Presidential election in the
United States have taken a curious turn. Mr. Daniel Webster has been objecting to General Taylor on the ground that he is a successful- general, and that victorious': Commanders, like Crom- well, are dangerous to Republican institutions. That such an as- sertion is not true, is proved by many air illustrious name in the histories of Greece, Rome, and Venice ; but Mr. Webster need not have gone further back than Washington. Nor is it possible that a really victorious commander can be so dangerous to Repub- lican institutions as a low ambitious intriguer like General Cass ; since cant and servility are dangerous to all institutions' and Cass has proved, in Paris, thakhe does not scruple to use the basest ex- pedients, such as 'fomenting national quarrels, to serve his own ends.
While Mr. Webster is objecting to General Taylor, the hardy veteran is sturdily and eloquently denouncing the horrors of war, and advising his countrymen not to interfere in the affairs of other peoples. There is a straightforward eloquence in his words which cannot fail to go direct to the conscience of really patriotic men ; and his sincerity is attested by the boldness with which he takes his stand against the Annexationists. If General Taylor be elected, we are disposed to expect a move upwards from that low point to which the American Presidents have progres- sively degenerated, and a very considerable move. General Taylor chooses an opportune time for restoring the political doc- trines of Washington and Jefferson.
The new President may have troublesome work on the An- nexation question. Tampico is offering to unite with the Model
Republic ; which is gradually taking within its embrace some of the most disorderly and corrupt states in the world. The Anglo- Americans would do well to remember that there is no retri- bution so certain as that for political sins committed by nations.
