Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1853-10-24
Bronson and the Administration.

degree that renders II doubtful whether they ell
iov the comfortable assurances Of victory aud
power, any more than they relisbed their late po-
sition of outsiders and oppositionists. Success
has brought with il neither IN Gen. Pierce nor
his followers the pleasures for which they pant
ed. Instead of the glorious repose and splendid
dignity, the rich rewards and imperial state--ihe
pomp and place and power, which were to crown
their labors and recompense their tols-they
find that victory was but the beginning of
troubles that il was more easy TO overcome the
adversary than it is to control the conquerors-
and that having defeated their political opponents
they have within themselycs-in their own pas
sons and discords and riyaries enemies still more
fierce and formidable. We have read Of the fruit
that turned to ashes at the toueh-of the uneasy
rest of tie head that wears a crown. and how bet
ter and easier il is to take city thnu govern
ones self-and we have in the present condition
of the dominant party yerihcatons Of these high
and difficult moral teachings.
ii would be amusing, if it were moi distressing,
TO witness the many and varied evidences Of cha
grin, contempt and anger which the late letter of
Secretary Guthrie to the New York Collector has
elected from the friends of the administration
We have already shown, by extracts from The
Northern press. how the national democrats Of
that region regnrdcdit. We wish TINT We could
have seen in the South ns many proofs Of indie
pendenee and finnness. Strange to say,tho Chi
valry. for the most part, seems 10 have LOST its
voice or its courage Argus sleeps, Hercules
has lost his club the scissors Of Della have
been about the locks Of Sampson; Bnyord con
SCENTS to be huilcted and spit upon What has
become of that band Of Southern champions,
which two wears ago guarded with such oager
and inpatient vigilance the rights Of the people
and the dignity Of the nation Then, ever, eN-
ecutiye act was an insult 10 freemon every
breeze thai came to our shores brought faint 10
our flag Where are the knights and cavaliers
with hall-olrawn swords and lanccs in rest, the
sound of whose horses hoofs were then ever in
the ears of quiet and unconscious citizcnsl Alas
after all, were they hut gaily caparisoncd lIdal
gos--whose souls siekened ut the sheen Of the
opposer's armour!
Southern ehivalry, We say again, has lost its
voice; and while the north speaks the bold Ian
guage Of contempt aud apprehension for the ~
rannioal treatment Of Mr. Bronson by the admin.
istration, tho South with few exceptions is a.
exceptions is the Richmond Examiner. whieh,with
characteristic fearlessness and freedom, declares
that the correspondence observes no mercy at
the hands of the democratic party" because it
brings "reproach upon the party, its principles
and the Republic ITSELF
1--WE are offended, the Examiner says, at Mr..
Guthrie's letter not for what II sought to accom-
plsh-jiusdoe between factions IN \. I,--bui for
the vulgar hrazeu manner in which II dlscloses its
author's action in this dirty 4 obscene, hutneees-
sary work. Ii makes him more than ridiculous, aud
tells with infinite more effect against the cabinet
officer than the soup letter of Gen. Scott told up
on the fame of that meritorous general and glo
rious captain.
The Examiners as much as il dislikns the letter
of Mr.. Guthrie does not relish the exposure of
its weaknesses and absurdties by Mr.. Bronson,
and therefore says:
'lf he had been a friend of the administration,
devoted TO the Democratic cause, and imbued
with the elevated principles aud feelings 50
yaunted IN his letter. the letter would never have
been written He would have allowed that of
Mr. Guthrie TO die its own death under the ridi-
culo Of our political adversaries, aud the silent
modification of the Republican party"
The Examiner further characterzes the letter
of Mr.. Guthrie as a weak and silly indisore-
ton" "elownish hunglng" &c. but its ehief
censure is directed at Mr., Bronson, and it has
not word of reproaoh for the President and Mr..
Guthrie's colleagues in the Cabinet, Now there
can be no doubt,that the act of Secretary Guth-
RE was the act of the President and of his Cabi-
net adyisers;-for Mr.. Guthrie. seeming to think
that the instructions he was giving worc,in some
way, embraced in the Baltimore resolutions aud
the inaugural address, SAYS to Mr. Bronson .lhe
President and his constitutional advisers" "haye
been aud are united as one man upon those prin-
ciples and that policy and had reason to believe
that all gentlemen who consented to accept office
under the administration, stood pledged 10 the
same principles and policy. As The President IN
derstands the principles ayowed rs the platform
Of the party at Baltimore all Democrats who
joined in unfolding and carrying out the same
were entitled to be recognized as worthy of the
confidence of the united party aud consequently
eligible to official station.
In concluding, he tells Mr.. Guthrie that he will
enclose copy of the letter 10 other officers in
N. York "n order that there may be no misap
prehension as TO the policy which the Presi-
dent will require to be pursued
These extracts make it evident that Mr.. Gutb-
RE was but the instrument of the President and
his cabinet, in perpetrating this weak and silly
indiscretion. I" The severe and eensorious Ian.
guage of the Examiner should therefore hive
been applied 10 the administration, and not to the
"bungng" Secretary of the Treasury Doubt
less, its neighbor of the Enquirer will concur
with us in this view, for in late number of that
Journal we find the following just observation
4 -