THE NEXT PRESIDENCY.-The subject of the presidential contest, and the question of candidates, is already occupying the attention of politicians; but in the present chaotic condition of the parties, it is difficult for either of them to arrive at any definite conclusion as to the course they are to pursue, or the men they are to bring forward. New issues have become momentous since the last presidential election, and new elements will be involved in the next; and between these it will require the utmost skill and management, on the part of our sagacious politicians, to steer safely and successfully. Hitherto, men have been guided by the stern dictum of party discipline in these matters, and it has only been necessary for each to marshal its candidate into the field to insure a full party vote: such is not now the case, and neither the one nor the other can count with any certainty upon the amount of strength that can be brought to their support. The question of slavery, with its absorbing influence upon the sympathies of men, has been seized upon by a class of demagogues, with the hope of using it as an engine of personal aggrandizement, and the advocates of the Seward doctrines will demand a candidate of their own stamp; while, on the other hand, this very question has weaned away the partisan affiliation of the south, and caused men of the most opposite opinions to unite in an unflinching phalanx against any candidate who carries even a taint of the Abolition school, that may be brought forward by either of the recognized parties of the country. Hence, a "Union man 99 cannot command the support of the Abolitionists, and an Abolitionist will never receive the vote of the Southern States. In this dilemma the political managers will find a delicate task before them in the selection of a candidate for the presidency. But there is another issue, which, though it may not yet have shaken the nerves of the wirepullers so much as the galvanic shock of Abolitionism, will, nevertheless, exercise a very im

test, and we may perhaps venture the assertion that that issue must be respected by the party which hopes for success. By the gerrymandering of political magicians, the people of America find their institutions going to wreck. They find themselves suddenly burdened with a large and rapidly increasing national debt, a thing not recognized by our economical republican system of government. They find the public domain in danger of being squandered away for the encouragement of pauper immigration, while this debt is increasing. They find the State fast succumbing to a pretended religious influence, at war with our notions of liberty, and men holding high and honorable stations prostituting their personal and official influence to this purpose. They find the blood-bought right of suffrage squandered upon men who can never realize its power nor appreciate its value, in consequence of which, instead of being a glory and a blessing, it is rapidly degenerating into a curse. They find, in a word, that the spirit of patriotism holds little part in the control of public affairs, and that at the present ratio of degeneracy from our ancient landmarks, the time is not far distant, when either a dismemberment of the States, popular anarchy, or a total subversion of our happy institutions, must

ensue.

Under these circumstances, it is but natural to suppose that something of the true American leaven will be kneaded into the dough of the next national baking; and as a little leaven only is necessary to leaven the whole lump, it may be made apparent that there will be sufficient to form the loaf to its own liking. But we shall say more of this hereafter.

Now, as to the selection of candidates-these two issues are to be considered: In the first place, neither party can take up a candidate that will be offensive to the whole southern portion of the Union, because, whoever ventures on that ground will surely be defeated. He will lose not only the entire South, but also the whole patriotic vote of the north without party distinction. That question is easily settled. The next is, What man will best satisfy both sections of the Union, leaving the Abolitionists out of the question? This is the grand fulcrum upon which the levers of the two parties will rest, and over which the action of their conventions must turn. Daniel Webster, Henry Clay and Millard Fillmore, on the one hand, and Lewis

son,

Cass, Thomas H. Benton, and Daniel S. Dickenon the other, would without doubt be equally free from objection on that score, and we predict that one of these statesmen will be chosen by the respective parties. General Scott and General Houston are not to be considered: one being about to take the veil, and the other already imbecile. It rests with the party of the country, therefore, the Americans themselves who are sufficiently free from party trammels, to determine, if not upon a selection from the six persons named, at least between the two that may be chosen by the respective parties.

THE FREE-SCHOOL LAW.-We live under a system of laws which professes to respect the popular will. The voice of the people is supposed to embody the law and control the actions of the State; in fact, vox populi vox Dei has been, and is still, our motto, and, in our unsophisticated simplicity, we have been led to believe there was some truth in it. We were mistaken. The voice of the legislature of the State of New-York tells us that the motto is a humbug, and the idea of popular government a sham. Either the voice of the people is not the voice of God, or else the legislature of the State of New-York is greater than both. Let us see.

One year ago last winter, the school law of the State, which opened the doors of the little temples of learning alike to the rich and the poor, in every town, village and hamlet, without money and without price-a law which made it no disgrace to send a child to the " Free School," and enabled the poorest parent to give instruction to his offspring-had been a year in force, with the most happy and gratifying results. The legislature then in session was beset, and appealed to, to repeal this law. Bishop Hughes and his satellites found in it a powerful and rapid disseminator of intelligence; the masses were learning to read and reflect, and the up-growing generations, including the children of benighted, priest-ridden parents, were giving fair promise of becoming, some day, as learned as their masters. These results were not according to the usage and policy hitherto employed by that class of politicians. With universal intelligence their power would pass away, and accordingly they set out to procure the repeal of the school law. They raised the cry of unconstitutionality and unjust taxation, until thousands of well-meaning men, not perceiving the object, were misled, and became opponents of the law. The legislature was beset with clamors for repeal, and uncertain what to do, resolved to call on that great arbiter, "the voice of the people," to decide between them and the discontented. They asked the people, if the law should be sustained, and, pending the reply, the foes of education were

indefatigable in their efforts to produce a negative answer. The organs of Bishop Hughes boldly called upon all Roman Catholics to vote against it, and nothing was left undone to secure their object. But notwithstanding all this, the intelligence of the State was preponderant, and, to the inquiry of the legislature the "voice of the people" triumphantly responded through the ballot box, YES! giving a majority of more than TWENTY THOUSAND in favor of sustaining the Free-School law.

This was deemed conclusive. The people had spoken in reply to a call from the State, and returned to their private occupations. Not so the enemies of intelligence and liberty: At the succeeding session of the legislature, now just closed, they renewed their importunities against the law, and the legislature, listening to them instead of the people, repealed it!

If this is not despotism, it is difficult to define the meaning of that term. The people ask for bread, and their masters give them a stone, after having insulted them with a show of deference to the popular desire by asking their vote upon the question. Austria could not beat that.The apology offered for this act is that the new law makes liberal provision for popular education by taxation. This is not the question. If

an assessment of five millions had been levied for

public schools instead of the law that has been repealed, it would not have met the issue; what the people require, and what they have twice voted for and demanded, is the principle that schools shall be free to all, and that the expense of sustaining them shall be borne by the property in the State. That principle the late law recognized; and all that it required to render it generally acceptable was a plan of assessment that should equalize the burden of expense. wisdom of the legislature was, however, unequal to the task of adopting such a plan, or resisting the political influence and threats of its enemies. Jesuitical cunning prevailed, and a new law has been adopted that will send at least one hundred thousand children out of the public schools during the present year.

The

TOO HARSH.-A number of poor emigrants were found wandering about our streets, in a state of actual starvation, on Monday, the 17th of March last; and again, on the 31st of the same month, another similar company. They were taken in charge by the police, and conducted to the Fourth Ward station-house, where they were supplied with food, and afterwards handed over to the commissioners of emigration. On inquiry, it was found that these destitute creatures had been taken out of the poor-houses of Ireland, and sent to this country by Lord Lansdowne, in order to impose upon our charitable people and laws

the grateful task of supporting them. These are but two instances of many that occur.

In our third number we pointed out instances of the exportation of criminals still under sentence, from English and German ports, to ports in the United States, and yet we have been told by Americans that we employed terms "too harsh," in saying that the criminals and paupers of Europe are systematically thrown upon our shores. In the name of all that is good, what language shall we be permitted to use in expressing truths, and exposing to the public eye these infamous violations of justice and decency? We have stated nothing but living and tangible facts, and this we have done in language more gentle than outrages so great would seem to demand. Those who are sent here for no other crime than poverty, demand and receive more of human sympathy from the American people than was ever bestowed upon them in the land of their nativity, which sends them forth as outcasts. This we can afford to give them heartily. We may consent to be taxed for their support or to be driven from the pursuit of our daily avocations by their pauper competition; but when it is understood that, besides our sympathy and protection, we must yield to them the control of our political affairs, and place in their hands the power of making our law-makers and executors, we feel the steady influx at the rate of half a million yearly, planned and sustained by the old world monarchies, to be no less than an outrage.

It cannot be expected that Lord Lansdowne,or the "British commission of emigration," or the "Leopold Association," will cease to commit these violations of the generous hospitality that America has tendered to the world; so long as America herself consents to submit to them, without protest, and without any effort at self-defence. We regard the subject as one that calls for as decisive measures of resistance on the part of the executive of this nation, as that of any object of protective state policy that can be named. The introduction of foreign criminals and paupers should be prohibited by statute, enforced by the whole power of the government; or, at least, if the system of importation must be continued, self-preservation demands that we should withhold from them the political inheritance of freemen. We claim that men who are qualified for highwaymen or night-scavengers, are not qualified to exercise the right of suffrage in a virtuous and intelligent community. In the absence of such prohibitory law, the application of the capitation law to its full extent, would tend, in a measure, to abate the evil; but we may not expect even this to be done, unless the people are informed of the extent of the mischief, or until their influence is made to bear in

the right direction upon the legislative and executive powers,—and in order to inform the people, it is necessary that the truth and the whole truth should be told. We, at least, intend to be plain on these subjects, so far as facts come within our reach, and we hope eventually to make the truth palatable, not only to the native-born, but to the intelligent adopted citizens also. We are all alike interested. Mr. Patrick Lynch, Editor of the Irish American, himself an Irishman but three years and a half from his native land, has already exhibited greater foresight in this matter than most Americans: he uses harder words than we have ever used; he designates this class of emigrants as "useless human lumber," and says they "have been pitchforked from Irish workhouses, upon these shores." We make an extract or two, to show an Irishman's opinion of this kind of" timber:"

"Queen Victoria's Minister, the Marquis of Lansdowne, and the Knight of Kerry, have, within the past few days, discharged, per order, some hundreds of starved paupers upon the wharves of this seaport."

That is one; now here is another :

mediate attention to the fact that the British Government and the Aristocracy have entered into a league to empty the workhouses of Ireland, and ship their cargoes of human wretchedness to the United States of America."

"I write this note because I desire to call im

And here is yet one more-short, and to the purpose:

"I think the vile abuse of the system of Immigration should be suppressed."

Now here is a foreigner, an Irishman, an alien and an Editor at that, denouncing the mere introduction of his own pauper countrymen into this land, and yet American law-makers not only admit them, but invest them with political rights and powers as great as are enjoyed by the most intelligent and virtuous of our own people!

People of America, you must take this matter into your own hands! Cast aside the slavish chains that bind you to the car of party, and give to your political action the color and substance of patriotism; let the American principle be the test of qualification in the choice of your public officers, and when you have rooted out these unhealthy and dangerous excrescences from the political system, you may with safety return again into the arena of partisan contention.

BRITISH CIVILIZATION AND PHILANTHROPY. --Among other relics of refined barbarism, the Government of England keeps upon its statutebooks, a law which allows a husband to sell his wife at public auction to the highest bidder, and provides that when such a sale takes place, the

afforded the wished-for relief, and turned aside the current of disease. This is saying a good word for a good thing, and we earnestly recommend those of our readers who may be similarly affected, to call at the agency of Scovill & Co., Gothic Hall, and procure the remedy.

NATIONAL ACADEMY OF DESIGN.-This institution, the only one in the United States devoted purely to the cultivation of Art, and free from all mercenary excrescences, has just opened its annual gallery of gems at the new room, No. 663 Broadway, opposite Bond-street. We had the pleasure of being present at the annual supper exhibition, and found the walls lined with exquisite specimens of American genius in the Fine Arts. There we see the emanations from Durand, Ranney, Cummings, Mount, and a whole host of authors in the picturesque and beautiful, speaking to their countrymen, and demanding that appreciation and encouragement to American talent which they profess to admire and boast of. There is, unfortunately, a great deal of gas in the professions of our Countrymen. They will boast of the genius of their country in art, science, authorship, eloquence, mechanics, bravery, patriotism, &c., &c, ad libitum, while, at the same time, they leave these toilers for national greatness and honor to drag through a protracted existence of want and privation. This is shameful. It gives the lie to your braggadocia, and looks very much like a disposition to trade on borrowed capital. The best boast that a people can make of its national honor, is to sustain those who contribute to create it, with a liberality equal to their pretensions and admiration, instead of leaving them to become the prey of a deputy sheriff. Those, therefore, who so much boast of American Art, and those who desire to see the arts thrive in this country, would perform an act of duty and patriotism by purchasing their works of art from the hands of our own artists, instead of running to the numerous sales of pictures made up from the offscourings of European academies. The most perfect specimens of paintings sold in this country, are the productions of our own land, and it is quite time that our people knew and understood the fact; and we may add, with truth and justice, that the National Academy of Design (in which we had the honor of being a student in our young days) has done more for the improvement of the Fine Arts in America than any or all other institutions of art combined. Let it be sustained.

QUITE A COMMOTION was raised in the ancient city of Perth Amboy, N. J., recently, in consequence of the Collector of that port, Dr. C. M.

Smith, having appointed an English alien as Inspector of the Customs. The people, justly outraged by such a prostitution of official patronage, turned out in procession, with music, and having prepared an effigy of the Collector, planted it in front of his office, and there burnt it, amid groans, music, and the firing of cannon. The young official, frightened at the parade, took to the manual exercise of heels; and it is possible that he is running yet, since we have heard nothing more of him. Dr. Smith was, however, not without precedent in this matter, since Mr. Ewing, General Taylor's Secretary of the Interior, appointed an Irishman, by the name of Mitchell, (a relative of the exile of that name,) to a clerkship in his department, before he had been six months in the country. More fortunate, however, than the alien at Perth Amboy, the alien at Washington, we believe, still holds his office, while many a needy, worthy and competent American, is made to stand aloof to make room for him. This sycophantic artifice for catching the votes of foreigners is as transparent as glass, and redounds to the disgrace of the party who stoops to it.

PARTY FACTION.-The crowning act of partisan infamy in the New-York Legislature, was consummated on the 17th day of March, by the resignation of twelve, so called, Democratic senators, thus leaving the Senate without a constitutional quorum for the passage of acts involving appropriations, and a large mass of important business uncompleted. The cause of this act of legislative perfidy was simply that the Whigs of the Senate, being in the majority, were about to pass a bill that would, if passed at this session, give a goodly share of patronage to the Whigs of the State. This the Democratic senators could not swallow, though they would gladly have passed the same bill if they had held the reins of State patronage; and finding that they could not defeat it by any legal means, adopted the last mean and criminal alternative of resorting to disorganization, whereupon the Whigs forthwith adjourned the Legislature, leaving everything in chaos, and asking the governor to call an extra session. So much for the doings of the Democrats, who profess to the doctrine that the majority shall govern. Now for the Whigs.

We cannot hold them free from censure. They had no right to adjourn under the circumstances, because,

1st. The resignation of senators, with the known intention of retarding or defeating the transaction of the public business, was invalid, and the attendance of the disorganizers might have been made on compulsion. It cannot be that legislators have the constitutional right to