Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1869-02-25

lie screamed, in tone half way between
a squeak and a war whoop, "You may
bet your pile on Old Abe! You may bet
your pile on Old Abel" The Radicals
had won. Chase, Bates, Blair and
| Welles-glorious quartette-were in the
Cabinet. All shouted for Joy, while.
Wadsworth rang for tumblers with
vigor which made the orbs of the Afri-
eau attendant bulge from their sockets
1t was wonderful victory, as the sequel
amply provedl -...... -.-
The materials of which this Cabinet
was composed were selected after the
model of the famolseoalition so graphic
ally described in the great speech of Ed
mund Burke. 1t was a bit of patch
work, piece of incongruous mosaic,
structure which fell assunder under the
rude shocks of a trying epoch. At the
start it organized itself into two cliques,
Seward being the central figure of one
and Chase of the other.
The apple of diseord was the distribu-
ton of the official patronage. As a ma
tural consequence of the defective plan
on which the Cabinet was formed, the
patronage has rarely been worse distrib-
uted in the history of the county, Mr.
Lincoln, amid the unseemly scramble,
cOntrived to make few appointments
without consulting his Secretaries, and
these were generally regarded as the
worst of the whole.
As an aggregate, the Cabinet pleased
nobody, not even its chief architect 1t
gradually crumbled away under the
pressure of events, till, ere. the close of
Lincoln's first term, one member had
been removed by death, and four had
been politely dismissed. OF these six,
two while seeming to give Mr.. Lincoln
their support, plotted against hisrenomi-
nation, and two openly opposed his re-
election. 1905 4s.E
The mistakes of the. Radicals were
more marked and instructive than even
those of the President. Blair, Bates and
Welles went back upon the men who
had carried them into the Cabinet, while
Cameron early took the most advanced
ground on the subject of slavery, and
In his first report as Secretary of War
the employment of ne
gro troops for putting down the rebel
lion. Winter Davis, too, became one of
the most pronounced and eloquent
of the Radical plan of recon
and was among the boldest
and ablest opponents of the more con-
sentative scheme favored by Mr.. Lin
colin.
we hazard little IN saying that the
and strife which this incon-
yruous and inharmonious Cabinet diff
used through the ranks of the Repub-
ican party would have Frustrated Mr..
Lincoln in the severe contest of 1854, ex-
,ept for the pressing exigencies of the
war, and the hope inspired in the breasts
,f the people n the eve of the election
~ the victories of Grant, Sherman and
Sheridan.
1t seems to US that the facts we have
detailed teach lessons of warning which
.annot be safely disregarded These
essons are, briefly, that a President
hould select his own Cabinet; that its
should, on questions of gen.
raj policy, concur in opinion with him;
hat they should, with reasonable lati-
Hde for the exercise of individual judg-
nent within their respective depart
nents, concur in sentiment with one
and that, on the subject of pa
ronage, each Cabinet officer should be
flowed to choose his sabordinates and
e held responsible for their. conduct,
fhile the President himself should Sc
ect the incumbents of the higher and
iore i'm pnrta nt 1si f-ls-asstie fio-- ------