The message of President Pierce to the Congress of the
United States, characteristic of the present state of politics in America, is not favourable either to.its, author. or to the Model Republic.• It intends to make the most of " the situation " for all purposes, and to expose the President to a minimum of risk in any direc- tion. Nationally, he desires' to be considered " firm " in pre- sence of all who have controversies with the Union ; abroad, he desires to be thought " conciliatory." Thus, he still looks to- diplomacy for settlement of the Central American question, though he labours to show that the Bulwer-Clayton treaty has been infringed by England, against every sense of the words, of justice, and good faith. He rakes up the .settled recruitment, question, in order to exhibit himself as the champion of " neu- trality "; while he sinks the same championship, of which he might have boasted in stopping the New Orleans recruits for Walker's army, in a small and almost apologetical paragraph. He boasts the compensation that he has wrung from Spain for the Black Warrior and other grievances in Cuba, compensations surrendered without breaking the friendly relations of the Spanish Government while the President's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling, glances over the past and future of the Republic, and discovers delights for his heart in annexations of all kinds— from Florida and Louisiana to Missouri and Texas ; for why should Texas, he asks, have " remained a lone star ? "—the phrase, it will be remembered, applied by Annexationists to Cuba. A surplus revenue makes the treasury rich; but the President, as jealous as the most " hard cyder" demagogue, cannot tolerate an increased surplus, and he desires to keep it down by lowering the import-duties. In sum, President Pierce, whose term of office is about to expire, is seeking to curry favour with every section, every minority, that, put together, could make up a majority for his continuance in office. Such being the uncon- cealable motive of the message, it necessarily follows that its spirit must be ungenerous, its views inconsistent, and its tone undignified.
We can now understand one reason why President Pierce was so anxious to have his message before the public that he would not wait for the proper organization of the Congress. The House of Representatives had not yet chosen its Speaker ; it was in fact not legally in a condition to receive the message, which lay upon the table unread. But the President cannot publish until he has submitted the document to Congress ; and he was anxious to have his great electioneering address before the Union. Frank- lin Pierce has not the same chance, after trial in the highest post of the Union, that he had when a successful career in subordi- nate positions stamped him as one of the most " rising " men of his day. It is now understood why he thus rose : he is in all respects a commonplace man, of considerable ability, no doubt, and well capable of being understood by the multitude ; for there is in him manifestly nothing which the average man of any class cannot read as he runs. The multitude itself has now found out the truth.
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