The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1869-03-12


1t seems to be certain that Mr. Washburne
has resigned his place as secretary of state,
after an experience of two or three days,
which, perhaps, suficed to convince him that
he had erred In accepting the appointment as
greatly as General Grant in making it. But
what Mr. Washburne can have learned of him
self, during these five days, which he did not
know before, it is impossible to conjecture.
Possibly the Office was conferred only to be
resigned, and AS recognition of the new
President of the debt of gratitude due to the
discoverer WHIP had dragged him from the
obscurity of b Galena tan yard. Possibly
Mr.. Washburne was disguised with the COM
paDy into which he found himself thrust and
made haste TO rid himself of connections
which would have been a continual source of
annoyance and modification. Yet if he had
remained in the cabinet he might have gained
more by the contrast with his colleagues, than
he would have lost by association with them.
An ordinary man is giant By the side of
pigmy, and Washburne might even have been
considered respectable in comparison with
his inexperienced associates. But the coun-
try, after all, never would have lost sight of
the fact that although he might be a
giant among such pigmies as Borie, and
Creswell and Cox, he would be pigmy in
comparison with the long line of distin-
guished men who had filed the Office of
secretary of state. From the beginning of
the century, down to the present time, that
office has been occupied by men distin-
guished in the country, or at least eminent in
their party. The presidency has been some
times the reward of Fictitious popularity
sometimes of partisan service, sometimes of
temporary availability. If, therefore, the
exalted intellect and the tried craftsmanship
of the country have, as a general rule, been
precluded from occupying the executive
chair. they have found refuge in the state
department. Look, for instance, at the line
of secretaries OF state-Jefferson, Madison,
Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Clay, Van Bu-
rem, Forsyth, Webster, Calhoun, Buchanan,
Clayton, Webster again, Marcy, Cass and
Seward-a line of intellect unbroken by intel
lectual deficiencies, and scarcely even i'm
paired by intellectual tenuity-and after this
to find cabinet headed by the name of Elihu
b. Washburnel If anything were needed |
to show that General Grant fails even |
In the particular element of sagacity |
that has been attributed to him
keen Judgment of men-such an appoint
ment would furnish the needed proof 1t has
been usual for newly elected Presidents to |
consult with the experienced and eminent
men of their party in regard to the forma-
ton OF their cabinets. 1t would have been
safe, and more than usually becoming, in
Zen. Grant, to follow the beaten track. Never
theless, the beaten track may sometimes be
abandoned. The man who leaves it, is re-
yarded as a genius when he reaches his OBJ
ect by nearer and safer path; but when he
wanders away into tangled labyrinth and
oses himself in maze of difficulties, he is
looked upon as presumptuous charlatan.
Gen. Grant decided to attempt the part which
IS safe only in the hands of the genius and the
inspired inventor. He spurned the methods
d MS predecessors. He deserted the track
winch they had followed. He rejected over
'ures OF curiosity and proffers OF advice; and
minated that his ambition was to surprise
ne country andastonish his friends. In this
he certainly hasgucceeded, for he constructed
cabinet which ainazes his adversaries, dis.
mays his friends and satisfies nobody-not
sven, apparently, the recipients of his extra
ordinary favors Is it any wonder that such
. cabinet should fall to pieces few days after
being put together2