Washington sentinel. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1855, 1854-01-17
To the Editors of the Sentinel:
RICHMOND, December 81, 1853

| = pIChMOND, DCCEUtO6f 1898.
! have just finished, with feelings Of unmixed
satisfaction, the perusal of your editorial of the
30th ultimo. The manly and noble sentiments
expressed in it have stirred me like trumpet
call, and have inspired the hope, that out Of the
rottenness of that Denmark of journalism in
which your lot is cast, there may vet come some
sound, refreshing and vivifying streams of truth,
independence and patriotism feel that this
tribute is due to you, because have expressed
doubts whether it would be possible to estab-
lish q Journal which, while it was to be the un-
flinching and earnest advocate Of the great
principles OF the States rights republican de-
mocracy, was yet to be the calm and disinter-
ested friend of the administration / foresaw
how difficult it would be for Sentinel to main
tain his position upon the watch-tower with
efficiency and safety, while he was constrained
not only to watch the approaches of the enemy
from without but sedulously to guard the gates
of the citadel lest the carelessness or treachery
Of some of its garrison should open them to the
foe. / feared, too, to be candid with You,
that the threats or the Establishments of that
herd of despicable fatterers, which always
basks and fatters in the sunshine of power,
might overcome that stern virtue-much as ]
gave you credit for, which had put you upon so
isolated, yet SO elevated, a post. It affords me
infinite pleasure to say, that my Vaccinations
have all been falsifed, and do most sincerely
congratulate you upon the success which has
crowned your efforts.
Of the sympathy and support Of oil men
everywhere who, like myself, have no other in
terest in the success of an administration than
that which springs from patriotic impulses, who
stand by the Executive, not because he is
the executive, but because he is the executor
Of the principles of democracy, which we
placed him there to administer, who, unlike
our wing friends, do not elect the President to
reward him for his partizan or other services,
but who elect a President for the sole purpose
Of perpetuating the great doctrines of the re-
publican fathers, and to keep alive with vestal
vigilance upon the affairs which they estab-
Ished, the glowing fires of our hallowed faith
-of the sympathy and support Of such, while
the same prudent wisdom, and the same gen
erous courtesy guides your pen, you may rest
entirely assured.
Let me tell you, too, as q cool and not mex
perienced observer, of that political melee, Of
which Washington is always the centre, and in
peaceful times like these, is the circumference
also, that with the hopes and fears, triumphs,
and actresses, enmities and attachments which
attend it; the great democratic party of the
country have no sympathy and feel no interest
in the various fortunes which marks the fray
1t is in truth tempest in teapot, and will
ever be so; for, while men hold official station,
they lose their sympathy for the masses in a
great degree-they are not en- rapport with
them. The undulatons of the ocean surges
which beat against the walls of a lighthouse,
are not felt by the man who lights the lantern,
as they are felt by the mariner whose bark is
afoat upon them; and while the last is watch
ing the clouds and the compass alternately, the
first is spared that necessity, and is only anx-
ious to have "good time" of it for himself.
To correct this selfshness and carelessness
which public life is sure to engender, our "bill of
rights" you recolect, drawn by the father of
Senator Mason, recommends, that those who
occupy positions Of public trust, should fire.
quenty be reduced to public station, in order
that they may feel and participate in "the
burthens of the people,
The wisdom Of this principle has been de-
monstrated by all human experience. For it
has passed into a proverb--that there is more
ignorance Of popular opinion prevailing in
Washington than anywhere else in the Union.
This seeming paradox is easily explained.
After men have been absent from their masters
a few weeks and have accustomed their tongues
to speak Of them as " my people, il is easy, by
natural process Of selfdelusion, to treat that
as fact which at first was but figure of
speech, and hence these men barter their
people" about and form every sort of political
combination with them, for months and months,
until it is not short of "petit treason about
Washington, to doubt whether Jones and
Smith, &C., do not and cannot speak for their
State, and mortgage "their people" to any pro-
position absurd or corrupt, which some fool or
knave has committed them to, either through
their venality or their vanity. How these sp-
der-webs are brushed away when the people
take the broom in hand and set their own
house 70 rights, let the spring Of 52 remind
you, when these congressional plotters watched,
like poor boy at show, half with amazement,
halt with envy, the meeting Of their people
at Baltimore and the nomination OF Frank
Pierce. Hence ] trust you will pursue the
career you have begun, so well guided by those
great landmarks which lie beyond that political