Southern shield., 1853-02-26
Washington Correspondence
of the New Orleans Picayunc
WAsuINGTON. Feb. 2.

To-day thelnteresting ceremony ot count ing the votes for President and Vice Pres ident, respectively, was got through with, when it was found that Gen. Pierce was duly elected President, and Col. King Vice President of the United States. Another day of this already too short session was thus happily disposed of.
 1 have seen letter from Concord, show ing that Gen. Pierce will not set out as soon for Washington as was minated. He will not leave till the 24th or 25th of this month, and his true friends have ad- vised him not to come as soon.
 As 10 his Cabinet depend on it, he will bring it with him in regard 10 ali it's essen- tials. The Hon. Caleb Gushing, it seems to be conceded on all hands, will be in the Cabinet; though there is some probability of his first going 10 France He would make an admirable Ministers 10 the demo- cratic court of Napoleon H., who, howev- CT harshly he may be judged by his cotem- poraries, is destined to dc things which will be remembered by posteritv. Il may be that Gen. Cushing will go 10 France first and to the State Department afterwards.
 Beyond the State Department nothing is probably fixed Gen. Pierce's predilections seemed to have been for Cushing, John A. Dix and Jefferson Davis; beyond this, it is probable, he is ready to yield almost any thing. And l believe he delays coming to Washington in order 10 ripen still more in his resolution, which of late has received some severe shocks from Washington. It is well known that MT. Polk changed his programme of Cabinet while here in Washington, within week of its being sent to the Senate; and it is not improbable that Gen. Pierce, with all his Roman firmness, may be oliged to yield some of his personal attachments to the necessity of harmony and concord. It is easy, however, 10 pre- dict that no Cabinet which can be made on the 4th of March next will be able entirely to satisfy and reconcile the different shades of sectional politicians, and that the neces- sary dspensation of patronage within the first six months of Gen. Perce's Admins tration will not increase his personal popu larity. It is for this reason that he wants such a man as Gushing to bring up the lee way by his devotion 10 the success of the Administration in our foreign and domestic policy.
 The Administration of Gen. Pierce will
 in truth, be surrounded by many difficulties. The great issues between two parties, (Whigs and Demcrats,) are nearly if not wholly absorbed; and unless new ones are created, the land marks of party must nec- essariy be abolished, and discipline relax for the want of occasion 10 exercise and enforce it. In addition to this it is not to De disguised that very great things are ex- pected ot Gen. Pierce-that an ordinary administration of the Government will no, satisfy the country, that extensive factions must be absorbed by events, or the feuds between members of the same party will be renewed; and that therefore, nothinp but events, striking, and beneficial in their influence on public affairs, can save Gen. Pierce's Administration from becoming tire some. His term must either be brilliant or 1t must prove failure. Circumstances have placed Gen. Pierce in a position in which he must either eminently succeed. or succumb to his antagonists. He must be his own heir. or spend his fortune be fore his term expires. GIL BIAS.