Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1864-04-12
QDBio Statesman,
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY
The Ohio Statesman Company.
TIE II M s.
(rNvARIABLY IN ADVANCED

The Thing at Washington Called a
Cabinet.
't-r, b. =, -, f-------4--F ii..sao w
what an Administrators Organ Says
what a Rickety and Inefficient Ma
chine tits.
The New York Times a leading Admin
istration organ, thus describes the modus
operandi in which Mr.. LINCOLN runs
the machine at Washington which, by
courtesy, is called Cabinet:
The mode in which Mr.. Lincoln conducts
the Administration Is quite singular. He
put each man at the head of department,
and then left him ITO run his machine" by
himself, beirg accountable for his own de-
partment. Il is believed that he has never
called the Cabinet together more than on
half dozen occasions. AS this Is directly
contrary to the practice of his predecessors,
one is tempted to ask, why not? The rea-
son is probably very simple one. When
Mr.. Lincoln appointed his Cabinet officers
they were from the composition of the Re-
publican party-men who had acted in diff
ferent parties, and different sections of a
party. Mr.. Lincoln was in the condition of
Lord Chatham, whose administration was
"l piece of mosaic work." that If they sat
down together at dinner-table, each man
would be disposed to ask of his opposite
neighbor, "who are you, sir!" TO avoid
this question, Mr.. Lincoln takes care not to
set them together. The several machines
thus running on separate grooves MIR. Lin
coin goes from one to the other In success
sion, to regulate their speed and oil their
machinery. Is it certain that this Is not as
good mode of proceeding as the old way?
Judging from results we should say it is
quite certain that the new mode is not as
good as the old one. Add to this expose the
declaration of Mr.. SEWARD that ''the Adj
ininistration has no policy, but is guided by
the development of events" and the people
need not be at a loss to account for the fact
that the affairs of the nation are at skies
and sevens.
We have a graphic and faithful descrip-
tion of the process by which "Uncle ABRA-
HAM" engineers the Government machine
in the following article fiom the New York
World, to which it prcfixes the slightly
comical" title of "MR. LINCOLN AND HIS
CABINET"
Few of our readers are aware, probably,
that Mr.. Lincoln has no Cabinet. Such Is
the fact. Doubtless Mr.. Seward is the
Secretary of State; true, Mr.. Chase is Sec
retary of the Treasury; 1t Is not to be denied
that Mr.. Stanton Is the Secretary of War,
and without doubt Messrs. Welles, Blair,
Usher and Bates are the heads of their
respective departments; but as for Cabinet,
consisting of, working daily as, body of
enlightened, able men, the appointed and
acting constitutional advisers of the Presi-
dent, there is no such thing In all Washing
ton. If "Cabinet," in our American sys-
TEN of Government means half dozen
head clerks charged with the. portfolios OF
the principal departments of the public
business, then there is o Cabinet at Wash
ineton. But If, as the Constitution provides,
and the uniform practice of the Govern
ment has been. a Cabinet means body of
men by the skilled judgment of whom,
each In his sphere, and by whose united
Judgment In the larger affairs of state, the
President constantly assists and strengthens
and guides his own judgment, then, as we
have said, there Is no Cabinet In Washing
ton.
There has been no Cabinet meeting for
several months. Now and then two or
three of the Secretaries may get together
In a department. or in the White House,
and Mr.. Lincoln may or may not be In their
company; but there are no regular meet
ings of the whole Cabinet, to consult upon
the business of the nation with which the
Executive Is charged; and In the knots of
two or three which sometimes gather, Mr..
Lincoln's stories quite as often occupy the
time as the momentous interests of a great
nation, divided by traitors, ridden by fa-
llatics. and cursed with an imbecility In the
Administration Of imperial fortunes, only
less criminal than the treason against which
such feeble war is waged. q.
England is at peace to-day. Yet we hear
of her ministry In almost daily consulta-
tion. The ordinary concerns of the. nati0n
are sufficiently important to assemble the
Queens advisers in frequent and protracted
o sessions. We Americans are wagiDg war
over the surface of continent, and our
armed ships are In every sea. The nation
is rocking In the throes Of its mortal strug-
Gle: its commerce is slaughtered on the
:, seas: its homes are emptied of the young
men who go away by the hundreds Of
thousands to fight our battles; we count by
= thousands of millions the heaped up debt
which is to burden the industry OF this and
future generations; fresh millions are daily
added to this mountain of debt which 1t has
taken us fewer months to create than 1t
took groaning, debt ridden England years
i, to accumulate; the very trade and indus
tries upon which we must rely to carry the
load are being steadily paralyzed by the
headlong fnanciering Of the head Of the
treasury, and the watered currency with
(which he Is gorging all the distended arte-
ries and veins of trade; new monarchy is
rising into power on our southern border,
born out of our weakness hostile to Us
/, In It's Inception, our foreordained an
5tagonist in the future; our enemies abroad
are only biding their time; yet at this very
crisis, vixen every hour Is big with the fate
of tbirtymillions Of people, the Congress
elected and charged to care for these SUI
preme interests can hardly get together a
! quorum to do Its daily dawdling, and the
chief magistrate thinks 1t wise to discon-
tinue the assembling of his selected advisers,
2 TO stroll from the Navy Department across
Z TO the War Oiiice, and from the War Office
to the Treasury Department. and erun the
machine MYSELF as heterms 1t, lubricating
I, ia huge wheels with stories picked up IN
aSangamon county, Illinois, and for the
remainder Of the day, TO spin plots and con-
triye schemes, as the secretaries too are