The Yazoo Democrat., 1859-03-19
THE NEW POSTMASTER GENERAL.

ue Whole country has great reason to b
satisfied with the appointment of the success
sor to the late Postmaster General.
Joseph Holt, who has been promoted from
the Commissioner of Patents to this cabine
post, Is we'll known throughout the Vale,
LOT the Mississippi as one Of the abest, mos
industrious and cultivated lawyers and poll
eicians IN this section of the Union. The
lame OF his great eoquence and towering
abilities, as displayed iu a remarkably briej
and brilliant career at the bar of Mississippi
is preserved in that State as one of its ira.
ditlonal gories As the rival and cotem,
porary Of Poindexter, Prentiss, Sharkey,
Walker, and other eminent lawyers, he was
esteemed the leading man, for terse arou.
ment, splendid rhetoric and intense labori
BUSINESS. Somewhat secluded in habits,
stern and sedate in bearing, taste and
thoughts, he never wasted his powers in
frivolous and unsatisfactory political strug,
giles, or in any of the small controversies and
occupations of the lawyer and politician.
He husbanded his great powers for great
occasions, and always appeared great. s. s.
Prentiss, than whom there were few better
judges of true genius and oratory, used to
say that he was the strongest debater he ever
grappled with, and the most eloquent he
ever heard.
Suddenly, in the very zenith of his pro
fessional fame, Holt retired from the bar of
Mississippi with an ample fortune, and took
up his residence in Louisville. Ill health
and desire to crafty and cultivate an ar
dent love of literary employment and pleas
ure, were assigned as the principal causes of
this retirement. 1t was great loss to Mis-,
sissippi, where, had he remained, he would
have attained political prominence which
has since been reached by far inferior men
of his own party. Settling in Louisville
he devoted himself TO domestic and literary
pursuits, and had almost disappeared from
the public gaze or knowledge, until the reign
.of Know,Nothingism began, when he emerg,
ed on the political arena, and gave a few
striking proofs that his powers of oratory
and argument were still in full bloom and
vigor. The love, however, Of retired and
studious life, and strong distaste for the
petty skirmishing and small demaeoguery
which constitute 50 large a part of our DO
lltical contests, restrained his PARTICIPATION
within the narrow and restricted bounds of
few telling, digniGed but powerful orators
cal efforts, during the Presidential campaign.
On the organization of the Bureaux,
President Buchanan appointed Mr.. Holt to
the trSt IN Importance under the Govern
ment-that of Commissioner of Patents
1t was thought at the time that place in
the Cabinet would have been a more fitting
recognition of his merits and talents But
he accepted this place, as one well adapted
to his studous habits aud scientific tastes
and brought to it higher cultivation, and a
tirmer and more impartial character than any
of his predecessors had for many years dis,
played The duties of the Commissioner ofI
Patents are chiefly judicial, and Mr.. Holt
mind is evidently endowed with judicial
capacities and virtues. His analytical fac
ulties are strongly developed, his love of
research and investigation ardent, and his
sense Of justice lofty, firm and sagacious.
La the investigation and decision of intri-
cate conflicts between rival patentees, he
evinccd zeal in behalf of true merit in
the maintenance of the rights of ingenuity
aud skill, Of the real discoverer against the
designs and schemes Of capitalists and spec
llators, who SO often manage to take advan-
Iage of the poverty of inventors, to appro>
pirate the benefit of their ideas-which will
render his administration one that will al
ways be looked back to as the brightest and
most honorable chapter iu the history of this
bureau.
The elevation of such man to cabinet
post should be subject of congratulation
% all classes of our people
Mr. Holt is Southern Democrat of the
school. His accession to the
abinet will secure statesman of higher
md larger views, of bolder and more ener,
3etic character and of greater freedom from
be smaller passions aud maneuverings of
than has yet filled cabinet post
nder the present administration ar. Holt
), we believe, native Of Kentucky, son,in
aw of Robert G. Wickliffe, Postmaster
feneral under President Tyler, and brother.
n-law of the present Governor of Louisiana. !
N. 0. Delta.
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