The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1860-02-09
The Recent Attack ON the Preside MT
What VIII the House Do!

orgie which followed his election on Friday
last.
1t will be remembered that, in previous ar
ticle upon this subject, we pointed out to the
House as its duty in the premises the necessity
of raising q committee Of investigation to take
proofs in veriication Of the report of the speech
as made in the HERALD, preliminary to the ex
pulsion of the officer who had been guilty of
such an outrageous assault upon the represen-
tative of a Co ordinate brapch of the govern
ment-the chief executive officer of the nation.
With degree of effrontery quite unparalleled
in the history of libellers the Clerk of the
House prints our report almost uerbatim ct lite
ratim in his own paper, and prefaces it with his
own endorsement as to its correctness. We
find the same vulgar attacks upon the Presi-
dent, the same BLACKBOARD comments from the
foul mouths of the orators drunken admirers.
The President, according to the Clerk of the
House, is despot, traitor to his pledges, q
disgrace to the position he holds, despicable
coward, and much more to the same purpose.
All this, in the 6rst place spoken to rufhanly
mob, made up of the ohscourings of Washing
ton, and now, after due deliberation, repeated
under the authority of the mean and miserable
hand, heart, tongue and brain which conceived
it.
We think-and We believe every one who has
at heart the dignity of the country, the sacred
memory of the patriots and sages who spent
their blood and treasure freely as water to
frao l. III
ants for all time, will also think-that the
conduct Of the person who has been elected
Clerk tops the infinite of insult. BE has
been guilty of double offence. In the first
place he has deliberately disgraced and brought
into public derision the body which has just
chosen him to the second Office in its gift The
House of Representatives, the popular branch
of Congress chosen to represent thirty mil
lions of civilized people, owes, whatever may
be its political complexion, certain degree Of
respect and consideration to the executive
head of the government. 1t is not Mr. Blu
cbanan who is to be thus considered and res
pected-it is the President of the United States.
When the government becomes so contempt
BILE that it cannot command even external cour-
tesy among its members, the position of the
nation is indeed dangerous. Therefore, when
we see q person who holds so important
an Office as that of Clerk of the House using
his triumph now, by partisan chicanery, as
the text whereon to hang TRADE of vulgar,
low, scandalous vituperation against the
venerable statesman who has spent his life in
the service Of his country, and has administered
most faithfully the executive duties which the
nation called him to perform, we say that it
is the Congress and the country, rather than
Mr.. Buchanan, that have been disgraced by the
vile outpourings of the petty spite of disap-
pointed spokesman, and that it is the duty of
the House to mark in some active and search
ing way its condemnation Of the misconduct of
its Clerk. AS for his second offence-his ingra-
titude to his patron-the proper punishment for
that is the scorn and contempt of all good and
true men.
If this attack upon the President is permitted
to 60 unrebuked it will be national shame.
Think for moment of the manner in which
European diplomats and publicists will gloat
over so delightful specimen of the manners
and the morals of the model republic. Fancy
the London Times asking its readers what they
would think of similar exhibition on the part
of the Clerk of the House of Commons, or the
Paris Constitutional transferring the scene to
the banks Of the Seine and the actors to the
Chamber Of the Corps Legislatif and sales of
the Tuileries. Such occurrences would be
quite as impossible there as they would have
been here in the earlier days Of the republic,
when, notwithstanding the fact that partisan
warfare was more bitterly because more
ably conducted than at the present day,
the utmost decorum was maintained between
the representatives of the several branches of
the federal government. The country in those
days sent statesmen and gentlemen to Congress.
What order of persons have taken their places
may be inferred from the recent occurrences at
Washington.
The character Of the House has been so far
deteriorated by the venality and corruption of
its members, and the majority are so bound
with the shackles Of the lobby, and so obedient
to the crack Of the party whip, that there is
but little hope that they will ever make any
united effort to purge the House of the unclean
beast who has been foisted by intrigues aud an
INSCRIPTIONS use Of vile party machinery into
the Clerks chair. Time was when the position
Of member of Congress was so far elevated
that every man in the House would have risen
to vindicate the fame of the republic and the
sacred memories that cluster around the Capt
toll from the presence Of the great national
libeller. Now, there is, we fear, not one true
patriot, not one bold, energetic statesman, not
one member of the House who has sufi-
cient pluck TO do his duty and move
for the removal of the Clerk. The whole duty
Of member Of Congress nowadays, accord
ing TO the indication Of recent events at Wash
ington, may be summed up in melting Pick