The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-01-03

the New Secretary OF state-hr'
Hvarts 20 Go Into tho Cabinet.
Our special dispatches from Washington
state positively that Mr.. Hamilton Fish is to
retire from the Cabinet and that Mr.. William
M. Evarts, Of New York, Is to be his sue
cessor. The retirement of Mr.. Fish will be
satisfactory to the American people. We say
this in no disparagement of Mr.. Fish's SER
vices, and we are quite willing that our present
Secretary of State should enjoy all the compli-
mentary courtesies extended to him by the Presi-
dent on his retirement In the much discussed
Treaty of Washington, leaving out Of question
the humiliation of our advancement OF in
direct claims and our retreat from the demand
in the teeth of repeated declarations OF our
determination to insist upon it's enforcement
we are willing to admit that the leek eaten
by England must have been much moro dis
tasteful than that we were ourselves compelled
to swallow. If our enormous Alabama claims
were settled at price about sufficient to build
new Court House in New York, provided the
expenditure was not in the hands Of NUM-
cipal ring we do not forget that Eng
land was compelled. by the judg-
mont given against her, to admit the
wrongs she did us during the rebellion and to
make atonement in damages for her offence.
We concede the victory won in the San Juan
boundary dispute. In short, we are willing
that Mr.. Fish should retire in grand pyro-
technical display at the expense Of Great
Britain. Still we are aware that our foreign
policy under our present Secretary has not
been such as Americans feel pride in review
ing, and we regard the peculiar relations be-
tween the State Department and the agents Of
the Spanish government as unfortunate, at
time when our relations with Spain are OF 80
delicate and critical nature.
The appointment of Mr.. Evarts at least dis
poses of the rumors in regard to the selection of
Mr. Boutwell's successor. Neither Mr.. Henry
Clews nor Ex-Governor Edwin d. Morgan will
manage the finances of the nation for the next
four years. Whether this will make any alter
alton in the programme for the United States
Senatorship remains to be seen. MT. Evarta
is lawyer Of ability and an Accomplished
gentleman. He may find the duties
Of the position he is about to
assume novel and irksome to him. He may
even find himself despite his well-trained
mind and legal knowledge, unfit for diplo.
matte service. At all events Its intricacies will
be new to him, and it may be discovered thai
at the present moment strong, positive, prac
teal business man would have been more desir-
able in the State Department than chamber
lawyer, however brilliant and learned. Sc
far as the social requirements Of the
Office are concerned, they will be as well
filled by Mr.. Evarts as they could be by any
other gentleman at the same time we should
have felt more satisfaction in recording the
appointment Of Minister Washburne as Mr.
Fish's successor than that Of any other person.
We should rather see his plain, blunt honesty
and true Americanism brought to bear upon
the Cuban question than entrust it to the settle
ment of the keenest lawyers and the most
polished Of debaters.