The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1869-03-23

cation of the Internal Revenue Depart.
ment, and served as Commissioner until
February, 1868, when he resigned to take
his seat as a member of the present
House. He served in each successive
Congress, and was elected and took his
seat as member of the present Honse.
During his last two terms in Congress,
Mr., Boutwell, was Chairman Of the Jud-
iciary Committee, and he was one of the
Managers on the part Of the House in the
impeachment Of Andrew johnson before
tie Oeuats
As a speaker Mr.. Boutwell, is vigorous
and impressive, and he is man of grs
sagacity and is possessed of unusual WEI
Of mental concentration. His Ell, " anu
experience, as well as his corr'er 10,
grasp of intellect and patie,c.,. WIN ue
tails, seem to fit him in .'I Gun ues.ee
for the position to wifi, ne mas oeen ap'
pointed Mr.. Bop.'ell's speeches rela.
~ - -. p.,as Sn have been collected
;n,e . ,oI.,.as and include lectures before
,aoon,, ~. Cations, addresses to college
.oc;s,; :, and his speeches in the House.
SECRETARY OF WAR.
Major Gen. John A. Rawlns, the new
Secretary of War, was born in Jo-Davies
county, Illinois, Feb. 18th, 1881, and
was reared as a farmer and charcoal
burner. which occupation he followed
till 1854, when he went to Galena, ILL.,,
where studied law, and was admitted to
the bar in 1855. He at once commenced
practice, and continued to devote bis at.
tention to the law until the breaking out
Of the war. On receiving the news of the
Bull Run disaster he engaged n aising
troops, and on the 18th of September fol.
lowing went into the service on the staff
of Gen. Grant during one of the early
months of the War for the Union. He
stood by his chief from the beginning
to the end. He heard the first gun fred
at Belmont and the last at Appomattox.
Since Lees surrender, he has been
stationed at Washington as Chief of Staff
of the army of the United States. BY
profession he is lawyer. In politics, he
was formerly a Douglas Democrat but
ever since the firing upon Sumter be has
been an earnest Republican. Throughout
the Rebellion his service to the General,
in.chief and TO the cause of the Union,
were of the highest order. Had be been
assigned to the field instead of staff duty,
he would doubtless have taken rank
among our few great commanders-Sher
idan, Sherman, and Thomas No other
man in the country knows the arr,v hot
ter than he; and the Cabinet is fortu,
nate in having the benefit of his large ex-
perience and his ripe judgment. Hi:
appointment will meet with general and
hearty approval, and if his shattered
health--shattered in the service of the
Union-proves equal to the duties of hi.
new position he will doubtless so perform
t1en as to increase the obligation which
the country already owes him. Rawlin'
is an Illinois man, and started at the be-
ginning of the war, when Grant was {
Brigadier, az Captain and Assistant AID
jutant-General. The first notice we
have of him is the newspaper account
correspondence relating to the battle o
Belmont and in the official reports o
the capture of Fort Doneson, and tn
victory at Pittsburgh Landing, he is com
plimented by his chief. The confdenc,
thus early reposed in him was never be
trayed, and the promise he then CAV
ended not in disappointment, As he ha
been Grants right arm, so no is to become
a trusted counselor in peace.