Washington sentinel. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1855, 1853-09-27

publishers 10 insert such an article in their pc.
riodical is mol questioned we are justified in
charging them with committing grievous
wrong on their regular subscribers, in enlist
ing their patronage and support for high
toned literary Journal, and then make its col
umns a vehicle for party Trades such as we
would look for in partisan newspapers Since
the accession of the present administration, no
such deliberate assault upon il, that we are
aware of has appeared in the most vio-
lent whig paper in the country. Some wing
abolition journals have assailed President Pierce
for his avowed devotion TO the Constitution, and
his declared intention to enforce the fugitive
slave law; but We doubt it any President has
been more exempt from the usual party
scandalizing of opponents than he has been
since his Inauguration. Messrs g. P,fPutnam
Go. have the distinguished honor Of leading
the onslaught against an administration which,
according to their own writer's admission, has
yet made no formal declaration Of its policy"
They have exhibited, moreover, in what direc-
ton their sympathies flow, tendency corrobo-
rated by the anti-sonthern doctrines incorpora-
ted III some works which have recently been
issued from their press. The article under no.
tice, in which, as publishers Of protested lite
rary magazine, they have travelled 50 far out
OF their legitimate and appropriate sphere, is
n strong evidence of their utilization with those
who have made it their special duty to oppose
an administration because of its adhesion to
the Constitution and laws of the country, and
whose officers have sworn TO maintain the one,
and faithfully execute the other.
II is not our particular province as conduc-
tors OF an Independent Journal to defend the
administration OF General Pierce; but it is our
privilege, IN the discharge Of our editorial duties,
with regard 10 public affairs, to defend that
which we conceive to be right, and condemn
that which is wrong. Availing ourselves of
this privilege, we lay aside our natural disn-
clinaton 70 discuss federal politics, for the pur-
pose OF expressing our hearty approval of the
policy, so far as it has been avowed, of the
cabinet Of President Pierce. No act of the
Executive, that we remember at this time, de-
serves condemnation, and there are many which
are entitled to the appreciation Of men of all
parties. Nor has the writer in Putnam brought
forward Il single accusation against the admin
istration sustained in any way by the facts. He
has, for the most part dealt in vague general
tiles; bat in all his ungenerous and unjust at.
tacks upon the President, his pen has not re-
corded one unpatriotic, un-Amcrican, or anti
republican word or deed of which Franklin
Pierce is the author.
Whenea political writer occupies the columns
OF n magazine'we naturally look for something
worth the space taken up by his production; but
this individual fills some nineteen solid columns
with mere political personalities against the
ExecuNe-s,lch stuff as we might expect to
find in some obscure whig sheets in reyy re-
mote section Of the country. The article is
more censurable because it bears some evidence
Of ability, and because that, under the sem
la, 4 l...- r.1
of the new administration, it il low-toned
party aitacl'--a dish Of captrap detraction of
the abilities, honesty and patriotism ofthe Pre-
sdent. II Is the shape in which this assault
appears, rather than any intrinsic merit it pos
sesses, that serves to draw attention to III and
were ii not under the peagreen covers and
done up III the fine letter press Of Putnam's
Monthly, il would not be deemed more worthy
ofparticular notice than any other piece Of or
binary party vituperation, which we are sorry
to say in latter times flows too freely from the
pens of political essayists
According to this writer, the President has
done nothing right. He says "Mr Pierce came
into power with the best opportunities Of doing
good OF any or otrr later Presidents bat Tint
he has not improved these opportunities, nor
given any indications that he can or will do so.
10 sustain this allegation, he says the inaucu-
raj "abounded too much in fourth Of july clap
trap that III the selection of his cabinet Mr..
Pierce exhibited .'neither wonderful shrewdness
nor wonderful strength that it was not such
cabinet "as a man of earnest purpose, clear
conviction, and strong reliance on his own prin.
ciple would have chosen" but that it is one
(which rather eyinces a weak desire Of concili-
ating all factions and interests"-a cabinet
"from the day Of whose advent at Washington
10 the present time the country has foundered
IN sea OF cnnlectures as TO the destinies of
the future. Then comes the charge of the
adoption BY President Pierce of the rotation.
in-oilice system, followed by an indiscriminate
condemnation Of the iorei IN and domestic ap-
pontments made for the last eight months.
Next comes a notice h Londoa Times, of
the visit and speeches made by the President
and cabinet officers at, and on their way to, the
crystal palace, and in conclusion of the whole
matter, a sweeping denuncation of the party
machinery now in operation in this country.
The writer wants the choice Of the President
given directly to the people; the constitution to
be altered so as TO abolish the electoral col
legcs. tle wants the selection of postmasters.
custom-house officers de-, TO he decided bv the
popular vote; and lastly that "the expenditures
OF the treasury be strictly confined To tho lcgi-
innate objects OF government" What a can
did political censor. What sage! What q
reiormer
The cabinet Of President Pierce, after having
passed eight months Of its administration with
out being subjected to any great amount Of
abuse from its political opponents, receives its
first broadside from masked battery, So
peaeeabiy, tremendously and unostentatiously
have the President aud his admirers conducted
the affairs of the national government, that Il
would require an extraordinarily keen and very
rabid partisan editor to find material for n
single condemuatory article nor can Putnam's
arrogant assailer bring forward single official
act OF that cabinet on which to pass The slightest
censare indeed, he appears displeased that he
cannot do so, and INDUCES his ilI-temper by
calling its members hard names; one is a
" New England Whig,' another aSouthern
Seceder'' another a +" Western Freesoiler,r and
the remainder are unknown men from parts
that one does not care to charge his memory
with What terrible indictment is this
But n Cabinet with W T.. Marcy as Secretary