The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1853-10-05


opposition is now TO be seen in the pitiful
plight which il presents The answer to the
question l. plain and obv Gus to the dullest
mind. The cause is attributable and easily
traced to the uuwse policy of the President, in
overlooking those whose consistent aud patriot
ic devotion to the Union and constitution ele-
waited him to power, and entitled them to
consideration in the distribution of offices and
in bestowing places and honors on the men
whose principles would, if in the ascendency,
eventuate in demolishing the glorious fabric OF
| Union bequeathed to US by our fathers. There
| is the rock on which President Pierce's popu-
larty and the existence of the democratic par
| ty has foundered.
| No one, we are sure, more than General
| Pierce, deplores the split in the democratic
party and the generally inauspicious appear
ance of the political horizon. We give him
| credit for the possession of those virtues which
most ennoble his distinguished position. His
patriotism, republcanism, and devotion to the
constitution are above suspicion or doubt. He
has given many and satisfactory proofs of them
in the battle field and in the forum Neverthe
less, he has erred, erred deeply, perhaps fatally,
not through design, but through inadver-
tence, and through listening to improper ad-
vice. He alone is responsible for the breaking
up of the democratic party and the resuscita-
tion of the whig with all its dangerous and
odious Seward tendencies. The country which
elevated him to be its ruler, and to direct its
progress in all the ways of national and ma
terial prosperity, will hold him accountable for
the fatal use he has made Of his position in
| running the popular party, and, consequently,
retarding the nation in its career OF greatness. 1t
is a serious responsibility this, and we have no
doubt but General Pierce SO feels it. Let him.
however, listen to the dictates of his own in
teInal convictions and to the voice of the peo-
ple-of which the HERALD is the interpreter
and if he cannot retrieve the evil already COM
mitted he may at least stop the spread of dis
affection which his acts have sown in the demo-
cratic party.
General Pierce's first and great fault, the
fault from which originated all his subsequent
errors, was committed in the unwise selections
which he made Of persons to form his Cabinet.
He had the misfortune to surround himself with
cabinet ministers whose political opinions
were utterly in dissonance with each other, and
who knew very little either of the duties Of their
new position, the character of the country, or
the tendencies of the popular sentiment of the
American people. Acting implicitly upon their
inauspicious advice, and ignoring his own intui-
tive perception Of right, he committed the eyre
gious blunder of distributing the public Offices
under his patronage to men whose political an
tecedents were inimical to the Union party, to
which he owed his election, overlooking men in
the democratic ranks who had right to expect
favor from him. We would suppose, indeed,
looking at the appointments made, that it had
become the special duty Of the Cabinet, in the
recent distribution of public patronage, to
advise the President to reward more es-
pecially those who had united with the
abolition movement and advocated anti
slavery sentiments during the year that
interviewed between 1847 and 1850. One
would suppose that the men who supported the
principles enunciated at Buffalo in 1848, and
who stood side by side with the Garrisonians
and abolitionists in that conflict in favor OF
Martin Van Buren,, had been selected as the
principal favorites to receive from the Presl-
dent. under the advice Of his Cabinet, the pub
lie offices in his gift. Persevering in this de-
mented course of action President Pierce has
succeeded in estranging sections OF the party
from the support Of his administration, and, as
a natural consequence, in disorganizing and
disrupting it-still more, the tendencies Of this
foolish internal policy are to undermine and
weaken the Union sentiment OF the country.
If General Pierce would ward off the final
catastrophe-if he would preserve the demo-
cratic party from extinction-if he would pre-
vent the resuscitation Of the wing party, with
all its baneful abolition infuences-if in fine,
be would maintain his own character for firm
ness and patriotism, his only hope to do SO,
lies in the immediate dismissal Of his Cabinet
Such a coup d'etat would be hailed by the
country as an incontrovertble evidence of the
Presidents qualification for the high office
to which he has been elevated, and
would justify the confidence then re-
posed in him. The enemies of the Union
at home and abroad regard with great glee
the present involved and unhappy condition OF
political affairs, and see in it the presage Of
that event which is the summum bonum Of their
desires. They consider it, not without reason,
as the prognostic Of . social and political revo-
luton in this country which is to end in the
dissolution Of the Union and the destruction Of
the prestige attached to this glorious republic
Let Gen. Pierce, therefore, disappoint these hos
tile wishes and expectations by stroke Of po-
Icy which the state of affairs imperatively de-
mands, and for which the country will honor
him. Let him act as would have acted, under
similar circumstances, Jackson, Jefferson, or
the sainted W gton-not with that imbecility
which has characterized our more recent execu-
tives. His reputation is at stake, his character
is vibrating in the balance, and on his prompt
action will depend whether his public career as
President of the United States is to be cele
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