Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1853-11-11
From the Charleston Mercury.


Those unacquainted with the past history of the
Hon james Guthrie, Secretary of the Treasury.
most of yonr readers are-seeng the low and vulgar
abuse of him. in the New York. Herald. and other
kindred papers-must necessarily feel some curiosi
ty to know something of his anlecedents and the
cause of this onslaught upon him.
MIR Guthrie is a stalwart Kentuekian with re-
markably striking appearance. His manners are
plain and unostentatious The expression of his
countenance, at first sight, is rather forbidding
which soon disappears. upon acquaintance, ihowev-
er and gives place to confidence.
His high qualities of head and heart placed him
in the lead of his profession in his native State and
his probity of character secured the confidence of
his people to such degree that he was always
elected to the political positions he sought, although
firm and unfinch ng States Rights Democrat, and
living in a Wing district
His whole history, his pure morals, and his strict
integrity. indicated him as proper man TO admin
lister tie Treasury Department and far as he
has gone, he has fully up to the highest ex-
peciations of the public.
twas not to be expected that the man who IN.
dertook to correct the misrue of the Treasury De-
partment under the late Wing Administration, and
bring it back to- it's legitimate action: enforcing
strictly the accountability Of those connected with
it, and driving off those who like vampires, wei e
! sucking from it; would escape without denunca-
ton. .---t~..
MIR. Guthre's first act of reform to turn the
forfeitures of twenty per cent. upon under valued
goods from the purses of the Collectors into the
vaults of the Treasury, where it properly belonged
thus correcting abuse which had grown into
practice, and saving hundreds of thousands of dol
lars to the Treasury.
The prac ice of giving the foreitures to the Col
lectors which clearly not contemplated by the
law, gave the Collectors of New York and San
Francisco. and other ports where the importations
large better salaries than the President of the
United Mates yes. -
| In this connection, the manner IT, which the Col
Iectors all the country discharged their duties.
came under his scrutinizing eve, and loose screws
| were frightened, and many abuses were corrected.
| The contracts for public buildings pertaining to
the Treasury Department. were looked into, reno
deled and put in proper trim. and the responsibility
of the contractors most carefully examined
In order to systematic this branch of public bu
slness, he made rFquIstion upon the Secretary OF
War for Civil Engineer. whose actual supervision
per discharge Of duty on the part of contractors
Many sinecutes were abolished, and this branch of
business put upon safe and economical footing
Mr. Gnthrles next measure was the withdrawal
OF the funds of the Government from the possession
of the Bankers and Brokers where they had been
lying stand ng deposte, resulting in pecu-
| mary profits to the holders. The agency Of Bank
and Brokers had been used 10 redeem the stocks
of Government, which had fallen due. and also for
the purpose of buying up those not DUE which the
condition of the Treasury justified.
| MIR. Simeon Draper was one of these agents, and
by the timely settlement and withdrawal of the de-
posits from him, much has been saved for the
| try
Under Mr.. Guthrie,s administration, the PERM
cou> practice Of al owing saared officers of the go
vernment to draw their salaries, and extra compen-
sa,ion for duty performed by Them has been dscon-
! tinued.
By this practice which had grown TO be univer
sal one large sums of public money were paid to of
fcers of the army octing in civil capacity in Cali
ifOrnia ard much more paid to civil officers
gnged in running the country upon errands al
together unnecessary to the public business @'..>'.
/ have grouped together few of the reforms in
troduced into the administration of the Treasury
Department by the Secretary Of the Treasury Tor
the ton of your readers, and for the purpose
of pointing public attention to the laten causes
which have given rise to the furious assaults that
have been hurled upon the Secretary by the disap-
pointed plunderers of the public treasury.
1t was not to be expected that the thwarted would
leave the rescued game, without making desper:
ate attempt to regain it, Finding this impossible.
they, Ike drove of hungry wolves, when the woun,
ded deer is almost within their clutches is snatehed
from them by skillful hunter, set up howl of
disappointment. and sullenly leave the ground -.
This course of policy is the head and front of the
Secretarys offending and is the real of the de-
nunciations which have been heaped upon him. and
for which his letter to Bronson has been made the
pretrxt 1t appears to be conceded, rather taken
for granted that the Administration has interfered
in the New York quarrels and Mr., Guthrie's letter
to Bronson is seized upon proof of the fact This
is in respect true. The Administration seeing
the difficulty between the two wings of the party In
| New York was inevitable. determined that the pc:
Icy of the President in regard to appointments to
Office. should not be affected by it, and hence the
letter of the Secretary written to Mr.. Bronson
ANY who will take the trouble to read carefully
MIR. Guthre's letter to the Collector of New York
will see that so far from its being proscrptve
tuay prOscr' bed prescription 1t simply admon-
shed the Collector that he not to appoint men
from his wing the party exclusively, but from
the other also in other words the Secretary infor
med Mr. Bronson that the division was not regarded
by the Administration at all dsqualfyl1g either
wing, and that it must he so considered by him.
But MIR. Bronson had his own ends in view, and
to carry them through he misconceved and misrep-
resented the Secretarys letter and made it the pre-
text of doing directly what he had been doing indi-
rectly-that is, opposing the Administration.
/ Ii is we'll known that Mr. Bronson and those who
were acting with him. were openly supporting Brady
and Cooley, who had declared upon the Plesi'
dent and the policy of his administration. long before
the letter of the Secretary written In the VAIN
hope of ex ricaiing themselves from their lnconsls
tcncies. they trel separate the President from his
Cabinet. and put all kinds OF reports before the conn
try, through their mouth piece the New York Her
ald of dissensons in the Cabinet, and the necessity
of its dissolution /, evidently their intention Il
come 10 an open rupture with the Administrations ant
every suberuge esored 10 TO lead off public al
ention from their Inconsistencies, and from the tru
aause Of their disconren and hence the hue and cr
they raised against the Secretary Of the Treasury
u whose mortal off nee the reforms he had brough
: about in his Department, and moi his letter TO Bron
son.:
t. have often heard orr own Great Statesman sa
Il that The who undertook to reform the abuses O
this & vernment, would have the entire pack Of dis
appointed place seekers and punerers of The Treasur
at his heels, and that he afraid that there wa
T not virtue enough in the country 10 save him frot
destruction. II remains 10 be seen whether this AID