New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1857-03-18
WEDNESDAY MORNING, MARCH Is, 1857.
Nem ORLEANS Dailp Crescent.
WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENCE. !.
MAsHINGroN, March 8, ls5

The members of the new Cabinet have all been
confirmed by the Senate and have entered upon the
discharge of their duties. Mr.. Buchanan himself
fell into position with the promptness of an old sol
dier and acts the President as if he had been re-
hearsing the character for years. ...r.r {
Of the Cabinet and their qualifications, little needs +
be said. They all competent to the administra-
ton of the departments which they respectively
preside. The constitution Of the Cabinet possesses
its only significance from the fact that it is an nd
cation of the drift of Mr.. Buchanans policy, and
foreshadowing Of the plan he has chalked out for
making his administration successful.
Gen. Cass will be good Secretary Of State il he
will only restrain his impulse Of hostility to Great
Britain. We have no cause Of quarrel now with the
British Government and it would be folly to provoke
one 1t is probable that Mr. Buchanan himself, fresh
from diplomatic intercourse with that power and well
aware the kindly feelings that now exist, and
ought to continue to exist between the two nations
will act as salutary check upon the Anglophobia Of
the, old General, and prevent him from committing
fatal error. tz Il d. I'D. s.-~.4 }.a -l..
Compared with Mr.. Marcy Gen. Cass is his inferior
in craftsmanship and in general administrative ability
The faults which Marcy has committed have resulted
not from ignorance OF international law, but from
passionand prejudice. Mr.. Marcy was too much of
mere politician for the secretaryship of State-bnt
his vigorous and powerful intellect and his thorough
acquaintance with all the intricate and complex di-
plomatic movements of the world cannot be disputed
The appointment Of Gen. Cass, as political move,
will not be acceptable to the South In truth, there
is no affinity ofpolitical feeling between him and
Southern men of any party. He is known as the ear
nest advocate of the dangerous doctrine of squatter
sovereignty in the Territories-and indeed is the
puted author of it. He is in favor Of lavish expend
ture of the public money and the public lands for the
building up and aggrandizement of the Northwestern
States. He is in favor of the Homestead bill-the
giving away of the public lands to settlers, native or
foreign citizens aliens He is in favor of an almost
unlimited extension of the right OF Suffrage to people
of all creeds classes and conditions In short, he is
thoroughly agrarian and radical in all his political
tenets Are does not seem to have its usual effect of
making him conservative .
Howell Cobb, the Secretary of the Treasury, is an
other politician thoroughly dsliked by large class
of the Southern people, He is about the only promi-
nent politician ofthe Union party of 1850 in the South
ern States, who has escaped the general wreck.
Foote Clemens, Adams Jenkins, and others, have
successvely been discarded, but Cobb has managed
still to keep upon the surface 1t is the fact OF his
being Union man under all circumstances, which
has procured him the present appointment 1t is
probable that he will enjoy the honors of his
! State again. G.: .-.F ..r D .... .-'-
The Secretary of War, Gov. Floyd of Virginia, is a
man of splendid talents, and remarkable energy and
industry, He will make the most efficient Secretary
of them ALL This is his first appearance in the service
of the Federal Government. He has been repeatedly
in the Legislature Of Virginia, and Governor of tht
State, but never was in Congress.
The Secretary of the Navy, Isaac Toucey of Con
nectcut has been in the public service nearly all hi
life, but has made no reputation either as statesman
or an orator. Superseded in his seat in the Senate by
Black Republican, he would have been compelled tt
retire the shades of private life but for the timely
intervention OF Mr.. Buchanan. He will not be pop
ular Secretary of the Navy-for he is cold naughty
and reserved in his manners, and withal passionate
and sefwiled.
The remaining members of the Cabinet are perhaps
as good selections could have been made. If the
new Postmaster General be not an improvement upon
Mr. Campbell, he must be hard case indeed.
The decision of the Supreme Court touching the
ordinance of 17S7, the Missouri Compromise, thu
qualifications of citizens, and the rights of slave
holders when passing with their property transit,
through free States is accepted with great satsfac
ton by some of the politicians here and nveighet
|
day the two dissenting Justices Mclean and Curtis
delivered long adverse opinion, each denying all tn
positions taken by the majority. The opinion of eac
Of the Judges will be prnted-and the student, witt
this able discussion before him, will be able to gain
complete insight into the mysteries and dhicultie
which have so long surrounded these vexed question
The misfortune is, this decision is not likely to /
accepted as binding. In some quarters of the Uno
= fnrt tba of tha
Court has manifested ITSELF which is one of the wor
!, signs of the times. The Black Republican journa
d of New York rilcule the Court just as they would
RI court held by Dutch Magistrate in Pennsylvani
Some time ago Hale, in the course of speech in tt
s. Senate, derisvey called the Supreme Court 1.-THE pa
& ladum of slavery" It is the palladium of the Co
stitution; and evil be the day when its high author
shall be disregarded
In the closing hours of Congress the bill for the
lief of Gen Scott was taken up and passed. 1t atiX
il the pay Of Lieut.. General, and gives him arrears
y the amount of thirtytwo thousand dollars. When tt
ID bill up in the Senate, Mr.. Crittenden made OIL
90 OF the teoquent and touching speeches in its
" vor that have ever listened to. After paying
k glowing tribute to SCOTS military services sayil
that if they could be coined into dollars all the vau
of all the SubTreasuries could not hold them he we
on to say, Of his personal knowledge, that besd
V some property settled his wife and Children Ge
rs Scott was almost penniless A man who has fill
IS the world with his fame and who had fought the
nc mics of his country from Canada to Mexico, woul
said Mr. Crittenden, if he were to die to-day have
ssd be buried at the public expense He regarded it
the greatest reproach tina: now existed on the natc
that Scott should be permitted to drag out the br
remainder of his days in absolute pennry, while O
trn1 1sl,rv1 with did n