The Sun.
London, England, 1841-10-02 00:00:00

THE NEW CABINET.

- -- •
(From the New York Commercial Advertiser of the
15th instant.)
Walter Forward, the new Secretary of the Treasury,
is a native of New England, but has long been a resi-
dent of Pittsburgh, in the State of Pennsylvania. He
is a lawyer of eminence, and some twenty years ago
was a member of Congress, supporting Mr. Crawford
for the Presidency, in the memorable contest which
resulted in the choice of Mr. Adams. It has been er-
roneously stated that Mr. Forward was a supporter of
General Jackson. Such was not the fact. He was' a
stanch friend of the American protective system, and
his views upon the policy of standing by the great
manufacturing as commercial interests of our own
country are unchanged. He was an able Member, and
we believe an officer of the late convention of Pennsyl-
vania, for reconstructing her Constitution. He was ap-
pointed First Comptroller of the Treasury by General
Harrison, and it is admitted on every hand that he pos-
sesses all the requisite qualifications fur the head of the
Treasury Department.

Abel P. Upshur, of Virginia, is the now Secretary of
the Navy. He is a resident of Mr. Wise's district, and
a warm personal friend of the President. He has never
been in Congress, but as a Member of the Virginia Le-
gislature has often shown himself to be an able flebater
and an acute reasoner. As a Member of the Virginia
Convention for re-modelling her State Constitution, in
1829—a body combining the highest talent of the State
Upshur obtained a proud intellectual rank. Ins
deed, the honour of the projet of the new Constitution,
and the " form and pressure " it received in the course
of the discussion thereon, are in chief due to him.
His labours were so well-directed and so efficient
in the Convention, that Mr. Madison, Mr. Monroe,
and John Randolph, united in pronouncing him its
ablest Member. On the decease of Judge Barbour of the
Supreme Court, just at the close of Mr. Van Buren's
Administration, Mr. Upshur, then a Judge of the High
Court of Appeals of Virginia, was named as a suitable
candidate for the bench ; but being a Whig, his high
c'aims. were, of course, disregarded, and a man greatly
1s inferior was appointed. Judge Upshur is an accom-
plished scholar ; and, as a political metaphysician of the
Virginia school, is said to be the greatest man at split-
ting a hair in the old dominion. But as ropes and not
hairs arc used in the navy, there will be little room for
the display of that sort of skill in that department. We
regret deeply to part with George E. Badger ; but
" what must be, must ;" and we see no reason why Mr.
Upshur may not fill his place well.
John M`Lean, of Ohio, if he accepts, will be the new
Secretary of the War Department. This gentleman is
now one of the associate Justices of the Supreme Court.
He has been too long and constantly before the public to
require an introduction, and yet we cannot consent to
pass him by in the new station to which he has been in-
vited, without notice. Twenty years ago he was ayoung
but able member of Congress from Ohio. In 1822 or
1823 Ito was called to the office of Postmaster-General by
President Monroe, as the successor of the late Return
Jonathan Meigs. He was continued in that office
during the Administration of Mr. Adam; because of
his high moral integrity and the efficiency of his con-
duct of the department, notwithstanding his avowed
preference for General Jackson in opposition to Air
Adams. But Mr. M`Lean would not allow party politics
to intrude into the administration of his department, and
neither removals nor appointinenta were allowed by him
from political considerations. Mr. Adams approved of
into
this course ; and, although the principle cost him his
displacepost Johnoffi ceMijiLeepaarnt.tn
Department
On the
accession of General Jackson, the unhallowed resolution
Court, to make
a brand political machine. To this course John INPLean
place,s was talyteent heto transform dfo neit e
would not consent, and the consequence was, that he was
room for a convenient Postmaster-General. Such an
instrument was found in William T. Barry, who filled
transferred to the bench of the Supreme
the department with corruption to saturation. Judge
APLean is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
He is a man of activity and energy. He has preserved
the ermine of justice spotless ; and if he leaves the bench
for the camp, he will make an able Secretary of War.
Plugh S. Legare, of South Carolina, the successor of
Mr. Crittenden, as Attorney-General, as a scholar and
statesman, is one of the ablest and most accomplished
men of the republic. The soundness and elegance of his
scholarship were eminently displayed, some twelve to
fifteen years ago, in the pages of the Southern Quarterly
Review—a `work which was published, mainly, to advo-
cate the peculiar doctrines of the South upon the science
—falsely so called—of political economy He has since
written occasionally for other periodicals, and the depth
of his learning has recently been displayed in the
New York Review, by an article upon the charac-
ter and ago of Demosthenes. Mr. Legere is reputed also
as an able lawyer, as we knoni be is an eloquent