The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1859-05-21

! OuR RABrD ANT .ADMNIsTRArIo ORGANS Nh
TREm WASHINGTON CoRREsPoNDENTs.--WepA
lish this mo. ming special despatch which throI
flood Of lght upon those hitherto mysteric3
purveyols at Wa shington Of our rabid black ~
publican and bog. Us democratic journals. W
thus perceive that IL csc disreputable newspapG
mediums, though they very properly keep alod
from the President and h y Cabinet still find the
key to some of the transac. ions Of the adninis-
tration through subordinat, sere and there, Of
the executive departments. Vhus, it would ap-
pear, that for those peculiar it, ms of Washing
ton gossip upon which the reckle. VI and violent
anti-administration journals weave their tissues
Of calumny and scurrility against t. Ne persons
character Of the President they are il Nebted 70
some of the inconsiderate underlings OF 'khe gov
eminent
This process Of getting at the ssy7ngs AID d.
ings OF the administration through the side a
back door OF some executive bureau may lie y
great convenience to the parties con,er ned; but
to the administration it cannot, under any cir
cumstances, be anything else than very great
nuisance. But when the parties thus served do
iberately distort every fact and evay act of thp
administration into the most unme assured al
malicious personal abuse of the Pres ident his
self, it becomes the duty of the Presid ent to u
quire into the matter. From the state ments
our correspondent on the subject, there Is reasa
to believe that there are some men empls yed 6
the executive departments who are either viii
fully guilty or strangely ignorant Of the vio'atio
of their duties bona tide to the administIa toni
in their affiliations with certain Washington
newspaper correspondents. Could the head oil
bureau, or an under clerk, enjoying the coAf-
dence Of the President be excused in that viohs-
ton Of this confidence which would attach to
systematic intercourse, as a newspaper medium,
with la man whose vocation is the vilest news
paper abuse of the President? No. And yet it
would appear that there is more than one cor
respondent Of black republican Know Nothing,
or bogus democratic Journal who has his news
purveyor in one or more of the executive de-
partments at Washington.
We presume that in this way such political
journals as Forney's Press, the New York Times
and the Etenaag Post secure those exaggerated !.
and highly embellished bits of Washington news,
gossip and scandal to the prejudice Of Mr.. Bu-
chanan, upon which, for the last two years. they
have given him so many letters, paragraphs and
chapters Of venomous abuse But if the Presi-
dent cannot interfere with the correspondents
thus employed, he can at least inquire how far
they arc subsisted through the imprudences or
treacheries Of his official dependents An in
quiry of this sort may possibly suggest some
efficient remedy for the abuae
We leave ii to the consideration of the Presi-
dent. Satisfied of the integrity of his purposes,
and believing, as he is fally entitled to believe.
that long, honorable and useful public life, and
clear and spotless private life, will vindicate
bis present actions before the country, Mr.. Blu
chanan may, perhaps, regard all this personal |
vituperation and scandalous abuse from his po-
litical enemies with Indifference. But still the
discipline Of the executive departments suggests
the necessity Of wedding out from them, when
detected, every public agent guilty Of playing
iuto the hands OF these systematic newspaper
revilers of the President. There is difference
between the freedom of opinion to public off,
Ger and the freedom of personal abuse: and
herein lies one of those reforms which might he
ust now beneficially inaugrated at Washington.