Litchfield enquirer., 1873-12-11
The DeoreasinG Estimation of Cab-
 lnet 0fflcas.

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 One of the worst facts we discover in au examination into our constitutional histo- ry is the decreasing estimation in which . Cabinet office is coming to be held. The original administration formed by George Washington was probably the strongest the country has ever seen. In Alex ander Hamilton as secretary of the Treas ury, and in Thomas Jefferson as Secreta- ry of State, President Washington com bined not only the great original leaders of political opinion in America, but he secured the ablest man of thought and the ablest man of action to be found in the new republic. From that time through, the list of Secretaries of State shows much abler men-men more thoroughly representative of their respective party principles than the list of Presidents. In the middle period, especially after Jack sons administration, the rule was that of weak Presidents and strong Secretaries of War or State. 1t was not Polk but Marcy; it was not Fillmore but Webster; it was not Pierce but Jefferson Davis, that were the controlling spirits of successive ad- lninistrations Custom required every president when elected to surround him. self in the Cabinet with the ablest, most noted, and strongest men of his party. On this principle Mir. Lincoln took the ablest, most noted men of his party into his administration. Some of these lost the confidence of the people and of Con- gress and were retained long after their capacity for usefulness was gone. It was this good-natured sticking to personal friends in disregard of public opinion, it was the consciousness of withdrawal of public confidence on the part of the officers SO retained, that made possible that curi- ous thew departure" under Andrew John son, which turned nearly whole Cabinet against the party to whose favor they or iginaily owed their positions. Much as the country has suffered from partisan ad- ministrations, the worst administrations it has ever had were those which represented no party. The regimes of John Tyler and of Andrew Johnson were the least competent, least honest, least respectable the country has ever known.
 President Grant has unfortunately combined the unavoidable evil of parti- san cabinet, with the weakness of per- sonal cabinet. His administration is a thoroughly Republican without being at all representative one. Mir. Fish is the ablest member of it, but who would select him as a representative Republican? It is a very significant illustration of the growing disesteem of cabinet offices that MT. Boutwell, has forsaken the most im- portant position in the country for that of a mere State Senator. It is another indication of this growing disesteem that while the appointment of MT. Williams in place of Mir. Alderman as Attorney Gen. eral was we'll received, his nomination as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is re- csived with great disfavor by all parties. This certainly ought not to be. For al- though the position of Chief Justice is higher one than that of Attorney Gener- al, and one requiring higher legal attain ments. still a good Attorney General ought to know law enough not to be consid- cred bad Chief Justice. MT. Williams has unfortunately gained no reputation as lawyer while in the cabinet. He ad- vised the President wrong in the Louis jana matter; and his argument in the great Credit Mobilier case at Hartford was considered very poor one even by the Republicans who heard it.
 It is certainly most unfortunate for the Republican party that none of its really representative men are to be found in this most critical stage of it's existence in the present cabinet. Very likely with rep resentative Republican in the Treasury Department we might have the blind leading the blind; which, seeing that we are in the ditch already, might possibly take us out of 1t. Now, there is abso- lutely no leadership; and yet, defeated in Connecticut, New York, Ohio, Wis consin, and doomed to defeat in other states if we do nothing, it would seem as if some sort of Republican leadership were prime necessity of the times.
 We do not blame Gen. Grant for origi- nally desiring to form personal rather than political administration. His per- sonal popularity contributed largely to his first election and there was gensr- al and most mistaken desire that he should not make up partisan cabinet Elected as he was in 1872 as straight Republican, we have right to demand that he should give us an administration representative of his party--one that will be source of strength, not source of weakness. The nomination of Mir. Will Hams for @ position for which he is not fit should be rejected; and the Republi- cans of Congress should further require that the administration should ba reor. ganized and filled with their strongest men-not with mere personal friends of President Grant.
 Farmers Convention.
 A meeting of the Connecticut Board oi Agriculture will be held at Meriden, next