The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1874-04-01
FillBnOrc's Presidency.

At this time some personal sketch
es of the men whom President Fill
more associated with himself in the
management of the executive depart
ment of the government may not be
uninterestiug The Buffalo Erpress
says: On assuming the Presidency
Mr.. +. dispensed entirely with Mr..
Taylor's Cabinet and formed q new
one, which, it must be admitted by
all, was much stronger than that of
his predecessor-in fact one of the
strongest the country has ever known.
At first however, he had quite as
much trouble as did Gen. Grant, in
the spring of 1869. Places were Of
fered to James A. Pearce, Edward
Bates and T. NJ. Il. McKennan, all of
whom declined. The Cabinet was
finally formed of the following men,
bers, who remained in it the greater
part of Mr.. Fillmore's administra-
ton.
Daniel Webster, of Massachusetts,
Secretary of State; Thomas Corwin
of Ohio, Secretary of the Treasury;
Charles NJ Conrad, of Louisiana,
Secretary of War; William A. Gra-
ham, of North Carolina, Secretary of
the Navy; Alexander III. III. Stuart
of Virginia, Secretary of the Interior;
John j. Crittenden, ofKentucky, At
torney General, and Nathan X. Hall,
of New York, Postmaster Gener-
al.
Three of these( Messrs Webster,
Corwin and Crittenden) were among
the most prominent statesmen of the
Wing party. The claim of DAME.
Webster to be considered the fore
most of Americans could, at that time
disputed by Henry Clay alone. At
the time of his appointment by Mr..
Fillmore he was sixty-eight years old
and had previously held the same
post Of Secretary of State in the
Cabinets of President Harrison and
Tyler, besides having been for nearly
thirty years leader in the Senate
Like Mr. Fillmore, he was candi-
date for the Whig nomination for
President in 1852, but both were de-
feated by General Scott. Dying in
the following October, he was sue
ceeded as Secretary by Edward Ever
EFT, also of Massachusetts, the distin-
guished writer and orator
Thomas Corwin, Secretary of the
Treasury, though one of the fore
most men of the Wing party. had
much higher reputation as u jovial
stump-speaker than as a iinancier
yet he was a man of great intellectu-
al power and moral courage Like
his chief he had risen from the low
est level by strength of will and Wig
or of brain. He had been n promi-
nent Representative and Senator,
and was fifty six years old at the
time he entered the Cabinet After
the expiration of Mr. Fillmore's term
and tie breaking up of the whig par
ty, Corwin held an intermediate po-
stion on the slavery question be-
tween the Republicans and Demo-
Gratis. He was, however, elected to
Congress in 1858 1--WE think by the
Republicans, but died not fur from
the breaking out of the war.
Charles NJ. Conrad, Secretary off
War had not attained national prom
inence pefore his entrance into the
Cabinet, and did not retain it after
his exit. Like most Southerners, he
supposed the cause of secession, and
during the rebellion was occasionally
heard of as a speaker or writer in its
favor According to the public
journals he has died siRce the close of
the war.
William A. Graham, Secretary of
the Navy, was better known than
his colleague of the War Department
having been a Senator from North
Carolina, and also Governor of that
State. He was but forty-Gve years
old when appointed Secretary of the
Navy. Being nominated for Vice
President on the ticket with General
Scott, he resigned his post in June,
1852, only to be overwhelmingly de-
featcd in the succeeding autumn.
Retiring to private life, he has been
little heard of since. Though not
an original secessionist, he was not
Unionist enough TO resist the desire