The New York herald., 1871-02-03
General Grant and HIS Cabiuct-uiis
Dangers and His Way Of Safety.

Grant has at length concluded to have q new
Cabinet; that he has been thinking il over for
some time that he begins to realize the
necessity of reconstruction in order to save
his administration and his party in 1872; that
he has discovered that the present members
OF his official family give him no political
strength that there is not man among them
who can command the support Of the party
throughout the country, and that, in short,
they are all, more or less, dead weights upon
the administration and the party. So there is
to be change, General Grant, in military
view, being fully convinced Of its necessity
from the reasons suggested. 1t next appears
that the reconstruction is to take place on or
about the 4th of March, so that we may
have q new Cabinet in conjunction with
the new Congress. All this is good. The
change proposed is good, and The time
chosen is good but better still is the
assurance thrown out that the new men in
the Cabinet will be leading men of the repub-
| lican party-men who understand political
engineering who can go into States and
manage conventions-men who have some
status in the party and among the people, and
who can strengthen the cause of the party and
General Grant for the grand campaign of 1872
This is capital plan of operations. 1t has
the military elements of fixed purpose and
harmonious combinations for powerful charge
along the whole line-right, left and centre
We are not surprised, therefore, to hear that
this proposed new ministerial movement is
hailed with satisfaction by the leading republi-
cans in and out of Congress, and that the only
fear has been that it would not be done in time
to save the waning enthusiasm of the party.
The 4th Of March will be early enough, and a
new Cabinet, on the plan indicated, will do
| much to strengthen the administration through
out the country. In this matter General
Grants beginning was all wrong. His initial
Cabinet was made up too much from sense
| Of personal gratitude toward certain liberal
| gentlemen whose kindness he was anxious to
recognize in some complimentary form.
Gratitude is a good thing the man who is
without it is not to be trusted; the man who
has it in the large degree possessed by
General Grant may, as friend, be trusted to
the end Of the world. But by the head of
nation this good quality in requital for per-
sonal favors may be carried too far. 1t was
carried too far, for instance, by Louis
Napoleon, in calling around him the unscru-
pulous adventurers and spectators who had
assisted him, or who had pretended to assist
him, to the imperial chair of his uncle.
He now in exile realizes the extent of his
mistake. General Grants favorites have been
of different stamp, and yet in all his merely
personal appointments he has gained but few
friends and has made many enemies. The
men who do the work do not like to be for
gotten.
The initial Cabinet of General Grant, we
say, was his initial mistake. His knowledge
Of men from whom to make his selections was
limited, to be sure; but that was the very
reason why he should have sought advice from
the recognized heads of his party. General
Taylor, when he took possession Of the White
House, in his ignorance Of our political affairs,
was in the same dilemma as General Grant;
but in calling the strongest men of his party
into his Cabinet he secured its confidence from
Che start. The sagacious Lincoln, in such
men for his Cabinet as Seward. Chase, Came
ron and Bates, his rivals in the Republican Con-
vention of 1860, bravely sought to harmonic
the different factions and sections of his party
Chase did, indeed, give him some trouble as a
rival aspirant for the succession, but Lincoln's
honest bravery and generosity had secured
the people, SO now General Grant has no.
thing to fear, but everything to hope, in fol-
lowing the examples Of Taylor and Lincoln
by gathering the strongest, ablest and most
popular men Of his party around him in his
Cabinet Morton, of Indiana, is spoken OF as
sure to be one of the new appointments and
Morton is strong man, and strong among
representative men, too, as are Cameron and
Forney, of Pennsylvania; Littlejohn, of New
York; Williams, Of Oregon, and Butler,
of Massachusetts,. We say Butler, Of
Massachusetts,, because he is strong all over
the country, and, next to Grant himself. he
is particularly strong among the seven
hundred thousand colored voters of the
| Union, and he is strong, too, among our
foreign-5orn population. In fact, he is in high
4 leather among the remains IN losing caste with
/ John Bull.
! But Congress is the important body TO be
considered henceforth in Cabinet making.
Under Jackson, and from his time down to
johnson, the President was the dominant
power in the government, or was so con-
sidered by bis party. But Johnson, in bring
ing out the reserved constitutional powers of
Congress, made Congress master over John
son and master Of the government-the govern
officer who executes its decree, subject to his
veto when he can make it good To be ca
rapport with Congress, then, General Grant
should submit the question Of his new Cabinet