Washington sentinel., 1854-01-04
TREASON.

The Richmond Examiner, which, from the
time of its establishment up to the present
time, has been distinguished by marked ability
and enlivened by spirit and yivacity too sell
dom found in the public press, has in some
of its recent articles exhibited such yigor of
thought, vivacity ofstyle, manliness Of spirit and
aptness of illustration as to win for it new favor
and elicit the most fattering encomiums.
1t treats men as the exponents Of principles.
1t treats principles as the ark of our political
covenant. 1t holds officers to a strict account
ability. 1t regards the press as failing of its
high mission, when it lapses from adherence to
principles, into slavish adherence to men. It
pays handsome tributes to those who merit
them; it lays on the lash when justice demands
the infiction of stripes.
We give below some extracts from an article
in the Examiner Of the 3Oth December, which
has the ring of the right metal. In its state
ments of principles, all good democrats must
concur-at the same time there may be per-
sonal references from which some may dissent.
The article from which we quote is headed
The modern law of treason to party" The
Examiner asks that the law of treason to party
should, like all other laws, be published, in
order to deter men from the commission OF
that offence; and thus save them from the doom
of traitors. In the absence of an authentic
publication of the law referred to by the press,
that claims all the power in the premises, it
ventures to infer the law in all its circumstan-
ktial details from the articles that have appeared
in that formidable journal. The Examine,
says: ia
Humanity and the spirit Of our institutions
alike demand that there should be clear, distinct
and simpelaws relating toall offences. Men now
tottering the verge ofdestruction, whose skulls
may, in ten days, be split by the whitening wrath
of the Washington Union, might be saved by a
speedy publication Of the Washington Union's
law Of treason aginast the administration. The
criminal code of Draco has BEEN for centuries, the
| synonyme ofoppressive tyranny, because it was
not intelligbe, by reason of its position and the
smallness Of its written characters. Unless the
Washington Union will render its ideas of politi-
cal treason ineligible, it will enjoy with pos
terity the unenviable reputation Of the most
cruel Of law Makers and the most abhorred of
legislators-n legislator it was. To guide the
steps of the unwary, to- protect the unsophisti-
Gated from hidden shares-to save the outlaws
of the press from the clutches of the execu-
toner general of the cabinet, we publish what
we humbly conceive to be the revelations of the
Washington Union upon the subject o" treason
against the administration with few words
about traitors and their doom.
Il
Treason acthout the benefit Of Clergy
| /. To proclaim, publish, or to utter in any
manner whatever, that vile Jeffersonian heresy
or maxim, principles, not men, as utterly
subversive Of the modern maxim, perish the
party--God save the oflice-holders.r
ii. To hint that any of the members of the
cabinet are not entitled to as much respect as
the President-or that they can, by any posi-
bic means, commit blunder or an improper
! act.
| LII. To speak disparagingly of the brilliant,
refined, and delicate manner in which Mr. Sec
retary Guthrie conducted the correspondence
with Bronson---or to decline to award him
much praise for the mastery manner in which
he connected and associated the administration
with dirty squabble in New York about
spoils.
Nv. To defend that noble, prosecuted, and
brave old modern Dentatus, Daniel s. Diclin-
son, for the spirited and heroic manner in which,
amid freesoiiers white-washed hypocritcal alb
olitionists, and short-boys, he has clung to the
constitutional rights of the STAKEHOLDER
V. To refuse respect or belief to the declara-
ton Of the Washington Union, that Daniel s,
nteklnsop must hereafter be ranked by the dem.
T. -.vwith snch men as Tallmadge and
ocratic pai.y -~he refused to unite with
other apostates, becaus. - oonspired
those who, by treason and deser,lo., :
with Van Buren, to defeat General Cass Ii.
184S
vi. To deny that the Van Burens-especial.
ly John, the freesoiler-are entitled to more
respect and esteem than the aforesaid outlawed,