New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1876-05-23
THE NLIy APPOINTMENTS.

Gen. Grant has made so many bad appoint
ments that there is always more or less sur
prise when he makes a good one. The trans
fer of Mr.. PierrepOnt from the Attoiney-Gen-
erals Office to the Court OF 81. Jamess has
been long under consideration and was dis
tinctly foreshadowcd in THE TRIBUNE as much
rs a fortnight ago yet the announcement yes
terday is said to have been heard in Washing
ton with wonder. Mr.. PierrepOnt has not al
WAYS displayed quite enough bodness in his
present position, and in at least one instance
his anxiety to please his superior led him into
an indiscretion not to have been ex-
pected in lawyer of his experience;
hut he is gentleman of whom most
people think well; he possesses many
of the qualifications of diplomatist,
and we have no doubt that he will soon cause
the discreditable minister whom the President
has reluctantly removed to be forgotten by
that part of the British public which was not
led to invest in the Emma Mine. Mr. Pierre
pont has perhaps rather too much culture to
please the majority of the Senate; but Mr..
Simon Cameron had strong personal reasons
for desiring the appointment. and that may
account for the prompt confirmation OF the
nomination. The transfer of Judge TAFT
| from one seat in the Cabinet to an
other could hardly excite opposition. Sec
retary Taft brought an excellent repua-
ton to Washington, and he has done no
thing there to iDjure 1t. He is lawyer OF
well-knOwn ability. and would seem to be
more in place presiding over the Department
of Justice than directing the government of an
army.
But J. Donald Cameron! This is nOmna-
ton of which it is difficult to speak with
patience Mr.. Don Cameron has never rem
dered any public service which entities him to
be advanced to one of the most honorable and
responsible Offices in the nation. His appear
ance in public has been only as managing
and bargaining politician, packer OF conven-
tions, a manipulation of Rings. But his name
IS known all over the United States. lie is
known as the son and heir of man who dur
ing long and dishOnOrable life has made cor
ruption the business of his existence, who
has bought Office at the cost of disgrace,
brought TeprOach upon every cause to which
he has attached himself, and made the poll
ties of his own State a kissing and sc0rn to
all the world. And as Simon Cameron grows
old in iniquty, it is notorious that he brings
forward Don Cameron as his representative
and successor. Don has all the business
shrewdness which distinguishes the family,
and in his connection with the Mackey Ring
he has developed capacity for intrigue and
watchfulness over the main chance which must
warm the cookies of the old mans heart.
When the Camerons took possession of the
PENNSYLVANIA Republican Convention few
weeks ago, and went through the absurd per-
Torrance of pledging it to Hartranft, all the
world read the announcement that Simon
offered the Commonwealth for sale once again
as he had done many time before. We have
no right to be surprised that Gen. Grant should
start up so quickly with a bid; but it is a
profound disappointment that the Senate of
the United States in headlong haste should
make itself party to such transaction.
Even the Senate which rejected Mr. Dana
might have had enough self-respect to rebel
against the nomination of Don Cameron.