Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1855-07-09
WASHINGTON NEWS AND GOSSIP.


ors, in spirit Of recklessness and injustice al
together .unbecoming an independent Journal
claiming to be respectable, TO create the i'm
preston that the public business was delayed
ndinconveniencedb by the recent temporary alb
sence of the President to the sea shore After a
column of comment upon the removal of Mr.
Wilson from the Land Office, and the antici-
pated resignation Of the Commissioner of Pat.
ents and the Commissioner of Pensions, the
Times says:
While the country is thus losing important
officers at critical moment, it has also lost
its President. President Pierce is at Cape Nav.
For practical purposes he might as well be at
Cape Horn, since he cannot by any possibility
proceed to the appointment of successors for
his retiring corps without the advice of his
cabinet; and the Cabinet is scattered to the
four winds"
The gross indelicacy of the above extract is
as revolving, if possible, rs are its unblushing
falsehoods. The editor of the Times knows
that President Pierce has absentcd himself
from his post, since his Inauguration to office,
less than any of his predecessors. He knows,
or ought to know, that he has remained in
Washington during the hottest Of the summer
months, against the repeated protestations Of
his family physicians. And in this particular
case, the Times editor has reason to know that
duty to his invalid wife alone induced him to
take the journey to which such cruel allusion
is made. Has it come to this, that President
of the United States cannot visit the seaside
with a member of his family, to whom the fresh
and invigorating ocean air is essential to re-
covery of health, without mourning the malig-
nant mendacity of partisan newspapers!
The Times states a palpable falsehood in
its allegation that "the Cabinet is scattered
to the four winds. They are EACH and every
one tn Washington, and haze been since the
absence of their chief The Executive having
returned, however, We hope and trust that
portion of them will seek relaxation and re-
pose at some of the cool and refreshing resorts
SO comparatively near to Washington They
all need and require it, and no right minded
man will ever be found to question the pro-
priety of their pursuing the same course dur
ing portion of the hot months, which every
other individual finds it necessary to take for
the preservation of his and his family's health,
if he has one. The statement that the Presi-
dent might, for all practical purposes, as well
be at Cape Horn as at Cape May, bears its
refutation upon its face. The opposition raise
sorry issue for themselves, when they ques-
ton the energy or the integrity with which
the different Executive Departments of the
Government have been administered during
the administration of Franklin Pierce.
The Light Artillery Battery.-We have
taken occasion to apply at the War Depart
ment for information as to the details of the
circumstances under which the Light Artillery
battery failed to take part in the recent cele-
bration of the fourth of July, and learn that
with the expectation that the volunteers of the
District would unite with the citizens general
ly in the celebration of the fourth of July, four
national anniversary the Light Artillery bat
terry was ordered from Baltimore to Washing.
ton, to take part in the celebration.
The battery arrived on the morning Of the
ID July. On the same day, a programme,
published in the Union, gave notice that the
military-regulars and volunteers-would con-
stitute an escort, to bs commanded by Colonel
VIM Hickey, the commander of the regiment
of District militia. This was the first informa.
ton received by the War Department as to
the order of proceeding, and an officer of the
battery was directed to report to Col Hickey
for further information. Colonel H. replied
that he would take no part in the military
exercises
Colonel Hickey called in the course of the
day at the war Office, and stated that he had
declined the invitation of the committee,
whose programme was published, to call out
the militia, and that two or three Of the COM
panies of his regiment would join one process
sion, and one or more would join another, and
that there would be two parties celebrating
the day The Secretary promptly announced
his decision, under this Ito him) new view of
the case, not to order the United States Light
Artillery battery to connect itself with either
procession. The proprioty of this course ha.
already been commented on in former
number of the Star
evening of the Sd, and learned his instruc.
lions. If he did not learn them beforehand
he seems to complain that he did MOTT was
because he did not earlier communicate with
him.
The least Informed of military matters must
know that orders to United States troops must
emanate from the War Department, and that
to secure the cooperation of the Light Artil-
lery battery, it was necessary to have made ap-
plication for, or at least to have communicated
to the War Department, what was desired.
If, in the downward tendency of the times,
we have reached point at which party strife
ceases not, even on the glorious birthday of
our national independence, it is to be hoped
that the day has not yet arrived-that it is far
distant-when the little army of the Union is to
be thrown into one party scale or the other, as
the Executive branch of the Government NAV
incline.