Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1856-05-22

this calumuy and trample il forever to the
dust. In this Just work Of vindication, in my
| opinion. il specially behooves Virginia to be
prominent 1t has been her proud boast
. among the faithless ever faithful found ;"
| to be always true to those who were true to
her principles, and never, 4" through fear, ia
vor or Affection to betray or desert an ally
or a friend. Let her then now signally illus
trato this noble constancy by her appreciation
and support of the Chief Magistrate, who has
conspicuousy viBdicated her institutions and
her rights. To this, too, she should be i'm
PEELED by another important consideration.
Such has been the appreciation throughout
the South generally Of the ability and fidelity
displayed by Mr.. Pierce in the maintenance
OF our rights, that nearly all the Southern
states from North Carolina, South and West,
have cordially avowed their approval of his
administration, and even declared their pre-
ference for his denomination. Now would 1t
be either worthy or becoming that Virginia,
the leading Southern State, both In position
and interest most exposed and most sensitive
to Northern aggression, should be behlnd her
Southern sisters in acknowledging distinguish
ed service rendered her section, and be sever
ed from them in awarding the merited need
of honor? In the contingency then of select
ing a Northern candidate, think that. other
Southern States concurring, the first choice of
our State should be Franklin Pierce. This
opinion may, perhaps, be deemed entitled to
the more weight, that as question of original
prediction among Northern men, Mr. Pierce
would not be my first, and that have no
personal bias whatever to induce the prefer
ence, having no acquaintance with him-not
having ever seen him, and having certainly
no favors in the past to acknowledge, nor in
the future to expect at his hands My prefer
ence for him is simply tribute of justice and
gratitude for his services especially in the
South.
The Ordnance Corps.-No other branches Of
the military service of this government are
really as useful as the Ordnance Corps,
whose duty is almost entirely that Of artizans,
almost every one of its members being en-
ployed In mechanical pursuits, and not few
of them on public work requiring the very
first order of mechanical genius and skill
The corps is noted, too, for having in it mer
who have served long in the army, enlistine
and re-enlisting time and again. In time o.
| war no other corps of tho army is more exposed
| or performs more actual or as useful labor; yet
| in the late law raising the pay of the army
| by an oversight this corps was overlooked
| This was the result wholly of accident, anl
the Secretary of War, we hear, has taken oc
casion to press upon the Military Affairs Com
mittees of both Houses of Congress the justic,
Of and necessity for placing the corps t,
which We refer above, on a footing with tn,
rest of the army, so far as pay is concerned
Those who enlist as "laborers" in the corp
really do the duty Of arti1ans or artifcers
| and upon their skill and efficiency the eff
cheney of the rest of the service, in grea
part, depends. If be o member o
either House of Congress who doubts the jus
tice of their claim to be put on footing Will
the rest of the army, we invite him to 60 dowl
tn cog. to the Washington arsenal, where
| considerable number of the members of tn,
corps are employed; and he will there Sc,
that, though paid but army wages before the
recent increase in the pay of the soldiers o.
the army of the United States, nearly every
man Of them is engaged proftably to the gov
eminent on work which, if done for individ
uals, would command the highest rates Of me
chanics' wages.