The Daily Herald

Explanatory.—The Sheriff of the County called on us last evening and explained the circumstances respecting his order, served upon us, recalling the Governor's message from our hands, as stated in our paper of yesterday. He received his orders from Mr. Clerk, the messenger of the Executive Department, and, as he supposed, from the Governor himself. He therefore felt bound to proceed. The procedure, however, was very precipitate, inasmuch as that a moment's reflection would have informed the Sheriff that even the Governor himself could not have withdrawn the document from the hands of a third party, to whom it had been properly committed, without first demanding it from the Legislative body to whom it immediately belonged. We now admit that we were equally culpable in giving it up, without the consent of that authority to which we were alone responsible. The Governor himself had no right to demand it of us, nor do we believe he would have been guilty of the meanness of such an act. There was found, however, a power behind the throne, stronger than the throne itself, and it is there we are to look for the exhibition of this magnificence of littleness. Mr. Clerk, the Executive messenger, received his orders to the Sheriff, from the Governor's Private Secretary; and he, in his turn, supposed them to proceed from Executive authority, and so communicated them; but, upon inquiry, the secret is out: The order proceeded from that compound of meanness and impudence,—that "tallow faced" leper in politics, spotted with every sin,—that genius of red tape and foolscap.—that despicable scoundrel,—SILAS MIX. That poor semblance of humanity had the audacity to disgrace the intermediate station which he holds between the Executive and the Legislative Departments of the State, to pervert the power of the one and invade the privileges of the other. However low, however mean, however base, and however degraded, he may be, the station which he holds as a public agent will not suffer him to go unscathed. At any rate he shall not practice his impositions upon us with impunity, for though he may pack our juries and impeach our courts, there is yet, thank God, a free press and a free people, that can speak of him as he is.

We do not know what course the Senate may take, in the present case, in regard to the invasion of their rights, but it appears to us that tolerance in one instance may give impunity to another, and any other document may be wrested from their hands and perverted from its direction, as well as the one which has been thus surreptitiously obtained.

'The man that can embrace a falsehood can endure a crime.

We acquit all concerned in the transaction to which we refer, of any improper motive, except the debased and degraded one whose name is too loathsome to repeat. For all that we state we have the authority of the agents employed in effecting his purposes, and to them we shall appeal for our justification.