Daily American organ. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1856, 1855-06-28
WASHINGTON. D. G.
vEsPA ASIAN ELLIS, Editor.
The Axe Has Fallen |!
THURSDAY. JUNE 2s. 1855.

diouu lOT tHo ucuu uouJ VI oonh 'hooiis hopO
Commissioner Of the General Land Office
The President, during this time, has been
moved by every conflicting emotion that any
heart ever experienced. Between the desire
Of gratifying the demands Of the political vul-
lures, and the desire Of avoiding the conse-
quences Of appointing an incompetent man to
this responsible position, the poor man has
suffered intense agony on this question
And who is there, when compared with Mr..
Wilson, that is competent to discharge the
various and arduous duties Of that Officer Not
a man in the nation. We say, comparatively,
not man. There are thousands who can sign
their names--thousands who can decide some
hoo the complex questions which arise in that
bureau--but who is there, that sufficiently
the multtudinous acts Of Con-
gress--the hundreds of decisions Of the SUI
preme Court the numerous treatics--the
thousands of precedents--the countless forms,
bearing upon the public landslide govern
ment titles, and private rightsp Who is there
among the political cormorants demanding
public pap, for partisan service, that can per-
form the high duties Of this post, without in
volving that department in confusion, and in
volying thousands Of honest men in legal war
fare to maintain their rightsp
We know something, for we have seen much
Of the working of our land system, through the
operations of the General Land Of1ice,--we
have professionally had years Of experience and
years of observation in these matters, com
mcncing twenty years ago, and coming down
to the present time, and we do not hesitate to
say, that no man can be safe and reliable
Commissioner Of the General Land Ofiice-no
man can properly and satisfactorily perform its
duties who has not had a long and constant
training inside that bureau. Compared with
that bureau, the Importance Of having thorough
practical men at the head of all the other bu-
reaus under the government, dwindles into alb
solute insignifcance.
Nearly all the land titles in thirteen States
and half dozen Territories boundaries
between million of farms--the rights OF
States and Corporations--of Indian and other
reservations, depend upon the General Land
Office, and if that Office be thrown into dsor-
der and confusion, by the recklsssness or in
competency of its Commissioners, there would
be no end to the strifes, contests, and litigation
which would ensue therefrom in nearly one
half Of this Union
Thousands upon thousands Of people would
be wholly ruined by heartless speculators-by
suits--attorneys Goes, aud costs
Above all other Offices under the government,
that of COMMISSIONS Of the General Land
Office, should be shut out from the approach
Of politicians--shoul be entirely free from
their contamination. The people--the farmers,
the pioneers of the West, the soldiers Of our
wars, their widows and orphans demand
that the General Land offico should not be
approached by broxen-down political hacks,
by political hucksters, or by political cormo-
rants; and yet to the shame and disgrace Of
this administration, in defiance of public opin-
ion, reckless of public sentiment and public
Justice, the mouthpiece Of this bankrupt Csbi-
net proclaims, that the removal Of John Wilson
was made s.lsly on political grounds I"
The Washington Union Of this morning
says, under Its editorial head, as fol-
ows:
ave have, In another column, announced the
removal Of John Wilson from the Office Of Conn.,
missioner Of the General Land Office and the tenn
porary appointment Of George Q. Whiting, Chief
Clerk of the Department Of the Interior, In his
place II may be proper for w to say that this
change Ia, been made solely upon grounds"
We have placed the last two lines In italics,
TO arrest the eyes Of our readers. The most
man for that post in the nation,
so, undeniably SO, is, then, by the
official declaration Of the Cabinet mouth-piece
displaced "solely on political grounds !"
But whilst we point TO this acknowledgment
IF the damning fact that the interests Of the
whole West, Northwest and Southwest are
coparded to make room for some partisan,
who demands q reward for his devotion to the
rotten cause he has supported, we have no
occasion 10 thank the mouth piece Of the Cabi-
net for such guilty confession.
Indeed, that confession was published TO
prevent Mr.. Wilson from making an expose to
The country, which the Cabinet might well
trcmhe at, If II had not confessed the fact To
be- removed from Office, under ordinary cir
implies incompetency, or derelic
ion Of duty, on the part Of the officer removed.
rhe Cabinet were aware that Mr.. Wilson was
90 well known, not only TO the representatives
If the States and Of the people, but to the
people themselves to suffer for moment
n public estimation, from the mere fact Of
being dismissed They were aware, too, that
Mr.. Wilson had abundant proof that the sole
ground Of his dismissal was that he is an
. American" aud Protestant" and re-
Tus TO abandon his faith or his associations
md hence the confession Of the Washington
Union.
The confession, then, has no merit, but, like
the act itself, win entail disgrace upon its au-
thors. To this complexion then, it has come
at last that an eminent, faithful, conscientious,
and universally esteemed public oficer-one
whose superior qualifications expert
snce - conciliatory manners and universal
are everywhere admitted--a man