Washington sentinel. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1856, 1856-04-29

had desolated Nicaragua. Neither was this
done by one of those lucky accidents which
give fools their fortune, but after hard fighting
and after rough vicissitudes--by obstinate
valor, indomitable energy, and bold combina-
tion Landing with ffty-six followers, and
abandoned by the natives, he cuts his way by
sheer hard fighting, and re.embarks. Scarcely
more successful in his second attempt, in his
third he makes still holder move, and seiz,
ing the capital, which neither party had been
able to wrest wholly from the other during
year, quells in few days all opposition.
On the other hand, of the Pierce administra-
ton what substantially can the historian say,
except That he was elected to the Chief
Magistracy Of this great nation, at time when
II was more prosperous than it had ever been
before and at period when the condition Of
further the interests of these United States,
than had ever been the case since he was born,
or probably will ever be the case again before
he dies. That he was raised from such insig-
nifcance as to have left him comparatively un.
trammeled by personal or party pledges, and
elected by SO overwhelming majority as rem
dered the opposing party powerless and pros
trate, and left him, consequently, with freer
hands than any Of his predecessors, to profit by
his unprecedented opportunities:
That England and France were engaged in
desperate contest of doubtful issue and uncer-
tain duration, which, absorbing all their ener-
giles, left it obvious to the meanest understand.
ing that they could, less than ever, then have
refused to our people its just rights nor jealous
ly have attempted to oppose the Legitimate ex-
tension of its influence or territory: That it
did not require even common courage to OBJ
tain the pacific solution of questions on which
the mind of the great bulk of The people is
made up because even the chicken-heartednes
which in contest might have fallen fainting
from the popular hobby, need never have been
exposed where contest there could be none.
These opportunities were let slip--the term
Of Franklin Pierces Presidency draws to its
close; they will certainly not recur within it.
If it were to close now at home, he leaves the
party which elected him in greater strength
than it had ever before manifested, more dv-
ded now than it has ever been-he leaves the
4 great constitutional question between the North
and South worse embittered.
| Abroad:-We have the great errors of
sion-the Marcy Kosta letter, an Indifferent
| plagiarism on Webster, under cover of which
the Administration has surrendered rights that
every State in Europe arrogates and that the
! United States always claimed before. We
have Marcys ordinance on court coats and
breaches, which, puerile as it was, no one but
| Mr.. BUCHANAN succeeded in enforcing, and
lastly the recollection of Greytown, with all its
Its one policeman laid up with the chills and
fever; its guns, without shot or carriages, first
cautiously distracted and conveyed away, and
the incendiarism Of its twenty reed houses which
even savage bombardment could not destroy,
| because the gunners could not hit the sticks
less thick than ordinary bed posts on which
they were raised.
1t is true that q short space is left-not
enough to repair the mischief that has been
DONE but still unfortunately sufficient to entail
upon the party and the country fresh humilia-
tons, either the immediate result of recent or
the consequence Of past derelictions and weak
ness.
We trust that amongst these we shall not
witness the failure ofthe gallant Walker, caused
as it only can be by the unnatural sympathy of
our Cabinet with his opponents, and by its aid
ing and abetting the nterception of those re-
sources with which the public spirit Of his
countrymen would willingly supply him. Give
him only fair play and we have confidence in
his head and in his hand, in his cause and in
his sword-but you can pen up and starve out
the lion or the tiger. But be this as il may
we believe that America will feel as much pride
at that panther Walker in his small pen Of
Nicaragua, as they will shame at the Coon who
has crept into that high place Of the Capital,
consecrated by the august memories Of the
great men who have filed it.