Eastern times. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1846-1857, 1854-02-02
The Secretary of the Treasury.


When Gen. Pierce called Mr.. Guthrie into
the Treasury, he knew him, and he has found
by his conduct there that he did not mistake
his man.
Mr.. Guthrie, says the Detroit Free Press,
combines in singular degree, those charac-
teristics which qualify him for position that
few statesmen are competent to fill. His
standard Of official integrity is not less high
than his standard Of moral integrity. He re-
CARDS the faithful performance of public trusts
just as obligatory as private trusts. He looks
upon the public moneys as not less sacred from
spoliation than private moneys. He has no
more respect for the public plunderer than the
man who plumbers his neighbor.
1t is because of these circumstances that the
Secretary of tile Treasury has been the object
Of unsparing abuse and obloquy at the hands
Of those, and their hireling presses, whose
game of depletion of the public treasure he had
effectually blocked When the Croswells and
the Laws and the BENEFITS found with whom
they had to deal-when they realized thattheir
well-formed plans Of wholesale plumber must
prove abortive-when they discovered that
James Guthrie was a man and an officer with
no bounds and then it was that the New
York Herald, the Albany Argus, and the
wretched sheets that bay at their beck, opened
their batteries upon Mr. Guthrie. Then it
was that they presented the alternative to the
President of dissolution Of his cabinet or the
breaking down Of his administration. Then it
was that Cooley opened the foodgatcs of his
dirty waters, which found a fit sewer through
the columns Of the Albany Argus 1t turned
out that the President was as firm as the Sec
rotary, and the dissolution of the cabinet and
the breaking down Of the administration have
been discovered to be jobs of greater magni-
tude than the New York gentry supposed.
But Mr.. Guthrie is not only faithful public
officer, but his management of the treasury
shows him to be a consummately able man.
His late report is one of the most mastery doc
uments that ever emanated from that branch of
of the public service. II has extorted praise
from his enemies. His general conduct of the
fnancies--his looping off useless expenditures
his adjustment of sinecure offices-his re-
organization of the revenue system-his en-
lightened views Of the reduction Of the tariff
all attest him as among the very ablest of the
menrwhO have held the same office under the
government. In his execution of the laws he
evidently knows neither friends nor foes nor
consequences. He has corrected abuses in
high places as well as in low and even now
he is insisting that the members of Congress
shall return to strict observance of the law
in respect to their own pay. Grave senators
are denied their per diem until their secretary
shall comply with the strict acquisitions of the
sub-treasury law.
Mr.. Guthrie has but to adhere to the same
principles and practice that have governed his
official conduct thus far, to secure the warmest
appreciation of the country. The contumely
that has hitherto been heaped upon him will
rebound to his praise. That he is reviled by
the lean and hungry hounds that swarm the
capital is the best possible evidence that he is
faithful to his trusts. ro r.t