THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN AMERICA.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 128, 9 October 1868, Page 3

THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN AMERICA.

(From the Times, August 3.) In the United States all parties are jus now busily prepnring for their Presidentia election, an event which in its result will be of great importance to them, and of much interest to us. By a law of the American Congress passed some time ago it is provided that an election for the choice of electors to select a President aud Vice-President shall be held throughout the United States on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of Nov. in every leap year; that the electors chosen in each State shall meet in January of the following year in their respective State capitals, and vote for a President and Vice-President; that they shall report their votes to Congress; that in the ensuing Feb, in the presence of both Houses of Congress, the votes shall be counted; and the persons having the majority of the whole number of electoral votes cast shall bs sworn into office on the 4th of March. In the Constitution of the United States thia mithod of choosing the American Executive is set out at length, and the law of Congress was passed to carry the Constitution into effect, and also to name the particu'ar d*ys for the various elections that are necessary. The system is a complex one, and the theory is founded on the idea that the mass of voters have not sufficient intelligence to choose a President, but must select a representative body, known as the " Electoral College," to do it for them. The desigu of the framers of the Constitution was that this " Electoral College" should be free to select for President any man it chose from among the American people, the only conditions being that he should be an American born and at least 25 years of age. In practice, however, the people select the candidate in advance, as has already been done in tha nominations of Grant and Seymour, and although the voters go through the form of voting lor electors, those electors are pledged in advance to vote only for the candidates already selected for them by their respective political parties. This year the Presidential election will be held on Tuesday, November 3, and on that day over five million voters will cast their ballots, throughout the United States, for the electors set up by one or the other party. Every American who haa the right to vote for the humblest local office has the right to vote for Presidential electors, and Congress, beyond appointing the day, has no Constitutional power to interfere either with the mode of conducting the election or with the classes of citizens who bave the right to vote. That is under the control of the State Legislatures, each of which regulates the election in its own State. Congress, it is true, has imposed various conditions upon the Southern States, as to the classes that shall or shall not have the right to vote, but the power to do this is questioned, and is one of the points at issue in the contest itself. It happens from this separate State jurisdiction over the actual voters differs in different States. Thus in New York and Pennsylvania a foreign immigrant must become " naturalized " by five years' residence before he can vote, but in several of the Western States a much shorter term only is required, in some cases not more than one year. In Massachusetts every male negro over 21 can vote; in New York only such as have a certain amount of taxable property ; while in Pennsylvania no negro can vote, no matter how large his estates. The foundation of the American ri^ht to vote is usually the payment of a tax, but the amount of tax varies in different States, and in some there are very strict " registry laws." Thus, in New York the voter, a certain number of days before the* election, must present himself to a " Board of Registry," and prove his right to vote. No one not thus registered can vote. In Pennsylvania, however, any citizen of the State who has resided ten days in the electoral district can vote if he has within the previous two years paid a tax, the minimum of which i> only 25 cents currency, about B£d. In effect, however, suffrage is so universal in the United States that it is within the power of the poorest to establish their right to vote, as political committees are ready to pay their taxes for them. The voting is always done by ballot. At the Presidential election, as has been already stated, the people vote for electors, a certain number of which, are apportioned to each State. This apportionment is founded upon the representation of the States in Congress. Thus, New York, having two senators and 31 representatives in Congress, is given 33 electors ; Delaware, having two senators and one representative, is given three electors. The total number of the " Elect ral College," therefore, amounts to the whole number of senators and representatives in Congress. £ Whether Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas will be permitted to vote depends upon Congress. They are not "reconstructed," and therefore their votes may be refused when, in February next, the formal counting of the electoral votes is done at Washington. This course is already foreshadowed by a Bill passed by Congress. Any citizen of the United States who is qualified to vote for electors may himself be an elector, so that the field to choose from is a broad one. In each State, the voters vote for as many electors as that State is entitled

to have in the College. They are not chosen by separate districts as members ot Congress are, but by States ; so that, in practice, each State shows her undivided electoral vote for one or the other candidate. Thus, ia New York, each voter votes a ballot containing thirty-three names, and the majority party gets all the electoral votes of the State, thirtythree, while the minority gets none. It therefore can happen that a party which controls only a minority of the popular vote of the United States will, by carrying, the large St.ites, succeed in getting a majority of the elector?, and thus successfully elect their candidate for President. Such was the case in the first election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, and in the election of James Buchanan in 1856. In 1860, however, there were four parties in the field, and in 1856 three. This year there are but two, and ie is scarcely possible that the minority of the popular vote can succeed in securing the majority of the electors. In each American State next November the voters will cast their ballots either for the Republican or the Democratic list of candidates for electors. These are already well known in America, having been selected by the various political State Conventions long before either party held its National Convention. In practice, however, they are merely " dummies," one set pledged to vote for Grant, if chosen electors, and the other for Seymour. It is not necessary to consider the ultimate decision given to the House of Representatives in esse no one candidate sh ill receive a majority of the electoral vote, as when but two are in the field such a thing is almost impossible. The rival candidates are General Grant for President, and Mr Speaker Colfax for Vice-President, set up by the Republicans; and Horatio Seymour for President, aud General Blair for Vice-President, set up by the Democrats. These eminent persons are for the present the opponents of rival creeds and tbe leaders of rival parties ; but from the moment of their nomination they ceased to be free agents. The American political practice is to keep a most careful watch over the candidates for these high offices. Committees of shrewd politicians are placed about them to prevent them from making speeches, or writing letters, or seeing doubtful visitorj. Ths smallest things during an exciting election campaign have their effect, and, as the candidates are " the observed of all observers," the greatest care is taken lest they ahould indiscreelly say or do something to injure their prospects. The party orators, and party, clubs, and party newspapers do all the fighting; the «• National Committee" appointed by each party at its National Convention, and composed of the sharpest politicians in the ranks, direct the manoeuvres, while the candidates, under instructions, bury themselves in some out-of-the-way place, where they are subject to no temptations. It is generally suposed that Grant and Col fax will be successful at the approaching election, and thus give a new triumph to the Republican party. According to the elections as they have heretofore been decided in the several American .States, if there has been no change that can add any weight to the Democratic side; the Republicans will choose the majority of the electoral votes. If the votes of Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas should be refused by Congress, the totals will be respectively— Republican, 178 ; Democratic, 115 ; and the Republican majority, 63. Such is the prospect, as shown by the result of the last elections in each State. It cannot be denied, however, that since 1866, there has been a general movement of the voters from the Republican to the Democratic side, and this, if it continues, may cause Seymour's election. Politics in America are a very uncertain thing. Of the nine States given above as carried by the Democrats in iv 1867, they carried but four the previous year. And as the balance stands according to the above statement, it will surprise English readers to learn that a change of less than 10,000 in the popular vote will turn the scale to the Democratic side and elect their candidate. A change of 6000 will give them Indiana's thirteen electoral votes -, a change of 2000 vill give them New Hampshire's five; and a change of 1300 more will give them Ohio's 21. Other states — Kansas, Nebraska, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, and Florida quoted as Republican — are as nearly balanced, but these three are sufficient to elect Seymour by six majority in the College. For two years the tide has been running that way, and if it continues, the folly will be shown, once again, of considering future success assured, because there has been success in the past. In this connexion neither the merits of the candidates, nor of the parties supporting them, is considered, attention being only drawn to the nearly even balance of the parties, which at the elections above referred to showed that the Republican total in the popular vote of the North was very little greater than the Democratic total. Whether the tide is still running as it has done, however, there will be plenty of opportunity to discover before the final test comes. Maine holds a State election in September, so does California ; and Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and others vote for State officers in October. The two American political parties are made up of a curious conglomeration of people. Both preach economy, flatter the soldier, and cajole the foreign voter; both declare the war ended and slavery and secession as settled for ever; both want to extend the suffrage, and at the same time to restrict it, the Republicans by giving it to the negroes and taking it away from a large class of the Southern whites, and the Democrats by giving it to the whites and taking it away from the negroes. Both seem to agree that the country is in a bad way, but they differ about the cause, each party blaming the other with all the national misfortunes, past, present, and to come. The Republicans support Congress in the plan of Southern reconstruction ; the Democrats oppose it. The Democrats advocate the payment of the FiveTwenty Bonds in paper, but also declare for a

i policy that will bring paper up to a specie ; value as soon as possible; the Republicans i declare for the payment of the debt in gold, - but in such equivocal language that General Butler and others of their party hare ; announced that it can as readily be interpreted to mean payment in paper. Such are the "platforms" on which the campaign . is to be fought ; but in America these platforms rarely have much weight, and they : are never regarded, after the eleotion, by the i successful party. They are the ladders by which candidates mount to preferment, but are kicked away when no longer useful. The United States is so large that it is possible for parties in the heat of an election canvas to support different and opposite politics iv widely separated sections. It will be the case this fall. The Democrats will preach Free Trade in the West and Protection in the East ; the Republicans will do likewise. The Democrats on the Atlantic Beaboard will forget their platform, and point the bondholders to Seymour's speeches favouring gold payment; while in the West they will preach the greenback gospel to the echo. The Republic ms in the East will, in the same way, talk of fidelity to the National obligations, while in the Mississippi Valley their orators will quote Thaddeus Stevens and General Buttler to show that good faith means greenbacks. A long observation of heated political campaigns in America has shown that all this is possible ; and that the warmth of the canvass as it advances so embitters the members of parties that they can see these incongruities only in their foes ; never in their friends. These, however, are what may be regarded , as the side issues of the contest — questions about which each party is itself divided in opinion. The great issues of the election are two — whether there shall or shall not he universal negro suffrage, and whether the reconstruction of the South according to the Congressional plan shall or shall not stand. Grant represents the affirmative of these questions, and Seymour the negative; and according as men feel about them will they enrol themselves in support of the one or the other, with very little reference to the bonds or the tariff, or the past history of either candidate. It is about these matters that the election is to be fought, and about which the States will be stirred up into frenzy long before November. The people not' only decide who shall be President at the elections this fall, but they also vote for members of Congress to go into office on the 4th of March next with the incoming President. This will add to the interest of the contest, for all the great Congressional leaders will be personally in the field, advocating their own claims for re-elec-tion. It is impossible for the Democrats, however, in any event to get a majority of Congress, whether they elect their President or not. The Congressional districts throughout the North are so arranged as to secure a majority of the members of the House of Representatives for the Republioans, even if that party be in the minority. The Senate ••» will have a Republican majority, owing to the long terms of the Senators, for at least two years to come. If. is probable, however, that the Democrats, whether successful with their President or not, will secure a much larger representation in Congress than they now have, and certainly control more than one-third of the House. The method of conducting an American Presidential campaign is one which is calculated to and is adopted for the purpose of creating great excitement throughout the country. The object of the politicians is to bring out every vote ; and to so interest every citizen that he will take the trouble of depositing his ballot. The processes adopted to effect this are always a serious interference to trade, and business is almost at a stand-still during the two or three months before the election. The organization of each party for this purpose isthe same. There isa " National Committee "to overlook the whole. In each State there is a " Central Committee " to superintend that State, subordinate to which are sub-committees in each city, county, town, township, and finally down to each election division ; for the entire country ia divided up into separate divisions for voting purposes, each containing on an average 590 voters. These committees are constantly at work to advance the interests of their party, by main* taining a ceaseless agitation. They buy up newspapers, organise meetings, and employ itinerant orators ; flood the country with political pamphlets, covers the walls and fencsa with placards, displays of music and fireworks and gigantic processions of torchlights and banners, to strike beholders with an idea of their strength; superintend the registration of voters, pay taxes for the poor, collect money from the rich, and finally, in doubtful places they plan whatever little cheating arrangements they may consider necessary to secure a majority. Some of the meetings and processions organised are marvels, taking entire cities andj counties, as it were, by storm. These committees are composed always of energetic politicians, who labour day and night, generally without pay, success being the only reward hoped for. As the campaign progresses, these efforts increase in earnestness, and the country is wrought into wild excitement. Politics fill every newspaper, and are the theme of every conversation. The widest range of discussion is permitted, and characters may be blackened to one's heart's content. The general frenzy culminates on the day of election, after which the successful party indulges in extravagant demonstrations of joy, and then the nation sinks into repose. The Americans are said to be^the happiest when in excitement ; they certainly must be happy in the universal upheaving that seems to be necessary to their choice of a President. It is quite as satisfactory to know, however, that they are able to keep the peace amid all the uproar, and that whether the votes decide General Grant or Horatio Seymour to be the next President, the defeated party will peaceably abide by the result.