The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1856-04-16

''sie'' ~" van some action on this highly |
'pof 'SH' Na'" n previous to adj ,urnment
Or tho Pierce MissasnAries In the |
north.
"0 IL the reader to interesting telegraph
NE touching the lsbors of General Pierce's
~ SiOnaries to the North. They give evidence
Aas the Brigadier has opened his deserted
camp AID exhibited its fatal weakness to his
own officers and soldiers, and by the same
token has Published the strength of his op-
ponenfa
The President is seandidate for re-nominA-
ton by the democratic party. Those who
know his position aad understand the tenures
by which he HOLDS place in that party, will
come to the conclusion ct once that he is
grossly deceived by those whom he regards as
his friends or that he is deceiving them. If
the truth is ever known 1t will probably show
strong proofa'o the truth of both these propo-
sitions in the conduct of the President and his
nominal eGpPcrters-
In order'.o comprehend more accurately the
strange problems suggested above, and to I'M
derstand the present attitude and purposes OF
Genersi?ierce, his short career should be di-
vided into what may DE termed his official and
persona, character-his magistracy and his
manheed for by the former he addresses the
South, by the latter he is known to the North.
1t 10 easy to see from this reference that his
weakness at home is urged by him as q reason
why ne should be sustained in the South-that
his sacrifices here were incurred as penalty
Tor his devotion to the constitution and the
Union. Never was duplicity put to bAser use.
Never were honest men misled by more
shallow and groundless device. Never were
the faithful adherents of the constitution in the
free States more grossly misrepresented. We
coacede that if, by an honest adherence to
the spirit of the national compact-a true ad-
ministration of the executive ofice--by uphold
ing alike the rights of all sections of the coun-
try, he has incurred the penalties of public Gen.
sure, it is the duty of patriots, Of whatever
party, to vindicate the right in sustaining hin
On such basis the South ought to support
him, because in doing 80 she will only uphold
the cause Of justice and maintain her allegiance
to that cause by rallying round and sustaining
its representative.
Next to the service we owe to the country
is that Of dealing fairly and honestly by those
who administer its affairs in the spirit of the
constitution. Upon such men, under our eco
nomical and parsimonious system, rewards can
not be too literally bestowed or public conf
dence too generously conferred. On the other
hand, he who is entrusted with high duties, and
is the object of exalted public honors, but who
fails to meet the appreciation of the country in
his personal and official relations to its citi-
zens, and forfeits, for whatever cause the con-
fdence Of the people, is amenable to the
severest criticism, and is entitled to the least
possible share of popular sympathy.
Now, we say to the South. General Pierce
has sacrificed nothing in the North on your &C
count His weakness here does not arise from
unfolding measures which you deem vital to
the peace and harmony of the Union. If he
has SO discharged the duties Of the chief
maeistracy as to satisfy you, he has SO con-
Quoted his personal relations here as to sacri-
fee public confidence in his int gritty as
man, in his wisdom as an officer, and in his
patriotism as citizen. His weakness in the
North has added nothing to the rights or to the
security Of the South, and is in no sense due to
his advocacy of public measures. 1t is 80
urged by him. we know, to excite sympathy in
those States where the party by which he was
elected was united and uninhuenced by the
hateful elements of abolitionism. It was in
dealing with those elements, in pandering to
their caprices and yielding to their naughty
demands; it was in the vain attempt to buy
them into the support of his administration, to
reclaim them by bounties and rewards from
the pursuit of a fatal sectionalism-lt was in
party for the mercenary Hessians of abolition
ian, that he sacrificed the confidence of the |
North.
Then instead of serving the South, he SO |
managed as to divide, if not annihilate, their |
allies in the North. He slienated the staunch-
est men and the truest patriots Of the free
States from the support of his administration,
and in doing 30, as much assailed the South
and even more dangerously than he could
have done by joining at once the side of the |
Niger WoRsHIPPERs.
How, then, can General Pierce appeal to |
Virginia and South Carolina to reseat him ia |
the Executive chair Only by deceiving those |
States regarding the origin and true cause of |
his weakness in the North. He has few or no
friends here. Are there but few Northern men
who are ready to stand by and abide the obli-
cations of the constitution to which the South |
appeals for guidance in the administration of |
the government? This is precisely the test |
point. Has the national spirit Of the free |
States preserved it's constitutional purity re
garding measures and lost its honest, its fear
less an its just sentiments regarding men ?
Does 1t adhere to the cause and denounce those |
who uphold it? Does it swear fealty to the |
compact Of union and to the equal rights of all
the States, and desert the standard Of national |
patriotism and trample under foot the SCARED
who have borne them in the thickest