The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1857-03-11


Now, there is much more force and virtue 10
these figures, standing in the connection they do,
than most people will perceive at glance. They
are the hostages which the members of the admin
istratin give to people for the faithful honest
and virtuous performance Of their public duties
Men possessed of property to such an amount
are raised beyond the reach of the baneful and
corrupting influences which would otherwise be
brought to bear upon them by the jobbers, specu-
lators, schemers and plunderers of all descrip-
tons, who fatten on the public treasury. The
artillery which this army of spoilsmen would
bring to bear upon pauper Cabinet is of far too
small calibre and too circumscribed range to
be Of any effect against even the outworks which
defend this citadel Of four and half millions
We have, therefore, in the Cabinet chosen bv Mr..
Buchanan the best prima facie evidence of
incorruptibility.
That is something to be rejoiced at We have
had experience of the dangers to be apprehended
from pauper Cabinets. We know how the coun-
try was victimized under the Fillmore admins
tration, by Galphin claims, Gardiner frauds, and
a host Of minor swindles in which more than one
member Of that Cabinet was discreditably mixed
up. Mr.. Buchanan has lived long enough in the
world to know that needy men are more
susceptible to the stealthy approaches of cor
ruptiOn than men who have no more to ask
from fortune The history of the Congress just
expired, with the monument of its three expelled
members. Matteson, Edwards and Gilbert-its
two expelled lobbymen, Simonton and Triplett
and its organized band of forty thieves, has not
given HIM a lesson in vain. He is wise man.
and profits by the teachings of history and expe-
rience; and so he selected Cabinet representing
four and half millions of dollars.
Even Mr.. Buchanan himself is not what one OF
our fast merchants or dashing stock brokers
would call rich. But he was an enormously
wealthy man for the respectable town of Lancas-
ter. He has been worth probably over hun
dred thousand dollars for thirty years past, and
never lost or increased it by modern speculation
And for all practical purposes, that is as good to
a mau of his regular habits as If the thousands
had been millions. He is man of plain, SIM
pie, inexpensive habits-free from the extrava.
gances of wife and family-and has always
lived within his income, and saved something out
Of it yearly for rainy day. So at his time Of
life, and under the circumstances that surround
him, his fortune is as ample as he can desire
Therefore neither in the President nor in the Ca
binet is there any likelihood of there being found
a weak side assailable by the usual influence of
money, which had such efect-bad effect-with
former Cabinets.
There may have been many Cabinets contain
ing more members Of brilliant parts than does
his Cabinet of Mr.. Buchanan. But genius
learning and accomplishments are often, except
when controlled by virtue and common sense,
possessions which could better be dispensed with
for something less glittering or grand. Mr. Blu
chanan's Cabinet is quite respectable in point of
ability and quite reliable in point of that four
and half millions Of dollars Corruption, job
bling and public robbery cannot stand before four
and half millions. The very forty thieves
themselves will be afraid TO organize under
their leader, Captain Fra Diavalo Matteson, of
Oneida, at the next meeting Of Congress