Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1857-01-09
Mr.. Buchanan's Cabinet.

II.TE7T T..
l. ~, Mr.. Buchanan's, Cabinet. Co.'s .
Great anxiety appears to be felt hmong
the particularly interested, in regard to the
formation of the cabinet Of The incoming,
administration, and some, with character
istic modesty, seem to, Ahink themselves
alone equal to the task Of making.the pro-
per selections. At the meeting OF the
Virginia Electoral College. that body com :
menced the grave business of selecting
John B. Floyd, for a cabinet desk from
this State, but the improperly and ridicu-
lousness Of the Recommendation and SCI
lection, being afterwards presented 70 the
Electors. the task was said abandoned,
and we had hoped that with it had fallen
all attempts to wrest the prerogative
of his own selection. from Mr.. Buch-
anan, at least in this State but we
still frequently see recommendations.
bordering on insisture, for different cabis
net appointments. s.!'" 10 ."'
For our part. when we advocated the
nomination and election Of Mr.. Buchanan.
we did 30 in the full belief that he was
entirely competent to discharge all the du-
ties of the Office to which he has been
chosen. If we have been mistaken, we
are filled with regrets and hope that he
will either die or resign soon E: but until
it is shown that he is incompetent, we
doubt the propriety Of thrusting 80 much
advice upon him, for however good it
may be, it is probably needless. since it is
fair to presume that he is tolerably well
acquainted with all the best men in the
country. He will be held responsible for
the success or failure of his own admins.
tration, and therefore should be permits
ted to select his own advisers. II he
wants advice. youthful modesty will not.
probably prevent his asking it, and when
asked. we hope it will be cheerfully and
honestly given and not till Men.r.. ,.'.-p
But we cannot refrain from saying one
word, in this CONNECTION, in regard to the
Virginia recommendation and as Mr.. Bu-
chanan. in all human probability, will ne.
yer see either this article or our paper,
we hope that we shall not lay ourseIf
open to the charge of attempting to inau,
ence him for or against any man, particu-
larly. as we have lain quiet at least a
month. while the matter has been dis.
cussed by nearly or quite every other pa
per in the Commonwealth. We merely
wish to record our opinion of the proprie-
ty Of that act, among our own people,
here in this State. The proposed action
of the College was improper for at least
two reasons. First-no Electors should
ask any incoming President for any Office
and second-John B. Floyd was not the
proper person to be recommended for a
cabinet Office from Virginia. That he is
man of talents none will deny, but we
have yet to learn that his administrative
career has been marked with any particu-
lar ability or success. AS the head oil
the Board of Public Works under the old
system, II we mistake not, he made q de-
cided failure. Discretion is a necessary
requisite in cabinet officer, but when
the mind recurs to Mr.. Floyd's Fremont
affair, he is seem to fail in the requires
ment. There might be other reasuns
given why he should not he presented as
the choice of the State, were it necessary.
There are many others in the State that
Virginia would prefer seeing in Mr.. Blu.
chanan's cabinet. There is Hunter, Ma
SOC; Letcher and Faulkner, and Lee. KID
we'll. Edmonson. and others OF our own
section, (since the gallant Wise declines
all offers of the kind,) that would be
much more acceptable. .-
But as we said before. we have every
confidence in Mr.. Buchanan's ability to
select his cabinet, and would be pleased
to see him do so without being subjected
to any outside influence.