New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-01-01
FROM WASHINGTON.
The Dispensation Of Executive Patronage
at Washington.

COrreGrCElcuCt
wAsHrScroS Saturday, Dec g.
MyssRs. EDITORS: In your paper Of yesterday
notice lengthy communication signed E" Homes
which does 40 great injustice to the Presi-
dent and his Cabinet, touching the delicate ques-
ton Of Removals and Appointments TO suoordi'
nate places in this city, that to remain silent
would be censurable in the extreme. The proPo'
sjtiou that every Clerk in the Departments IN
Washington who differs with the Administration
nolitically. should be removed, is so sbhorent to
every principle of justice, and rePugnant to every
profession Of the Whlg party, that it carries with
il ;ts own refutation. The most that has ever
been claimed or asked is, that the new pohtica'
driveler who devotes his time to politics instead
Of the duties Of his Office, should be removed, but
that the competent and attentive should be re-
tanned.
"Honestus7 saws. "he a,raigns the members
Of the Cabinet jointly and siagiy, for not DONG
their duty 10 the Wig party' add commences
his erparte trial with the arraignment OF Mr..
CoRwIS. The first count ia his indictment is'
that Messrs. CUNNINGHAM and PEARcE were re-
stored to Office by Mr.. CORwIS, who had been
displaced by Mr.. MEREDITH. But HonestHs' is
guilty of suppressiO rerl,' by Withholding the
reasons that influenced Mr. CORwIS In this par
ticular. Mr. MEREDITH, as well as Mr. GALA
HER, had given an unqualified pledge, that they
should be restored, in the event of twelve ad-
ditional clerks being allowed by Congress, for that
Bureau which was greatly retarded for the want
OF sufficient force The additional clerks rere
allowed and ten Of the twelve We're given to
Wings. and the two to Messrs CUNNINGHAM and
PEARcE, as promised by Mr.. CORwIS's predeces-
sor. ! learn that Mr. GALLAHER, the Sd Auditor,
went to Mr.. CORwIN and insisted upon its being
done; so that if two Loco Foco clerks have been
restored, it has been by VINO influence, and Mr..
G. is not to blame.
The truth is, Messrs Editors, that the members
Of the Cabinet have been restrained ia their &C
ton by the Wings themselves and scarcely an
appointment is contemplated based upon re-
mOval, but Wig Senators and Representatives
and Whig outsiders OF unquestOned influence
unite to prevent it. Both Messrs. PLEAsANToN
and DAYTON have BEEN and will be retained from
this cause alone and yet, while yielding to the
wishes of prepoRderance in influence and num-
Der of their political friends in retaining oppo-
nents in Office, they are abused by the minority
for not acting in accordance with their views. If
H0neStuS" is so anxious for a reform, let him
turn his battery upon the Wings whoremonstrate
against and prevent these removals and not upon
members ofthe Cabinet, who are trammeed from
acting when they desire TO DO so, by such remon-
stranceR and influences.
In my humble Judgment, these assaults upon
the Cabinet will be productive of no good as they
most assuredly will be harmless in driving a sim
gle member TO do otherwise than he is now doing.
And regret that the assault has been first made
through the columns of your journal. No man
is more anxious to fiji the full expectations Of his
party and the country than is THOMAS CoRwIS;
and no man has done more in carrying out reforma.
ton in Office than him. But both Mr. CoRwIS and
his colleagues can, with the utmost security, en-
trench themselves behind the undeniable fact,
that the Wings themselves are sadly divided in
opinion as to almost every change that is made.
And until the masters themselves can agree what
work shall be performed by their public servants,
thelatter have no right to complain that nothing
is done.
The exercise Of the power Of patronage is at
best a difficult one, and not easily discharged sat
isfactorily to those who politically act with such
who are clothed with that power. But when the
friends who to be benefited differ widely and
irreconcilably as 10 whether a removal should be
made at all, it is the refinement Of cruelty and
injustice to censure the appointing power for not
doing that which is to displease majority of
those whom they seek to benefit.
So far the President is concerned, he laid
down salutary rule on his early induction into
the Presideptial chair 10 Which he hs. th r:
out lnvaI ably and most properly adhered. IL was
that he would not interfere between the mem
bers of his Cabinet and the filling of subordinate
places under them. but that each Cabinet Minis
ter would be held responsible by him for the salts
factory discharge Of their respective functions and
that they must control the machinery of their De-
partments in such way as they believed the
public interest and welfare demanded. Nor can
1t with the slightest regard to truth be asserted
that whenever a member of the Cabinet has de-
sired a change, that could duly be reached by Exc
cutiye power, that the President has failed or hes
itated to carry out their wishes. Hence the IN
called for and unmerited fling at the President by
"Honestus' is as destitute Of foundation as the
profuse censure cast upon the Cabinet by the
same author. JUSTICE.
Why sol We accompanied HonestsS by disclaimer
OF all sympathy with hls gTumbng his fundamental doc
nes part. Does Justice consder wise orpro-
per suppress not only expressions Of opinion but state
ments Of fact where the writer's esnings happen differ
from the Edorsl itso bewould find the role exceeding
y DoOnyenient to himself we may judge the future By
the past Let Us have Free Speech.-[Ed. Trib