Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1877-03-17
A NEW LEAF.

uOtn tndt 1resluenlIdI elSctlOn tdhes |
place without the eager discussion of
questions which may have been held
in allegiance, but which the rough
handling they sustain in a popu-
lar election drags from the shelter of
official reserve into the daylight, and
upon which public opinion then de-
clares itself with a decision which
compels the practical disposal of them
some way or other. These are popu-
larly called campaignquestions, and the
formation of new cabinet is so eager
~ anticipated and so keenly eritised,
mainly because of the light which its
selection is expected to throw upon
the future action of the incoming ad-
ininistration in reference TO these ques-
lions.
Everybody knows what were the
campaign questions in the struggle
which has recently terminated; viz;
administrative reform and the relation
of the Federal government to those OF
certain Southern States; and in fact
these two questions are one, for it was
through the carpet-bGg governments, as
they are popularity called, that such
unexampled profigacy in official cir
cles. has within the last ten or twelve
years made its way into the whole sYs-
tenn of our government.
1t is with an excited interest then in
the Southern question that men of all
parties are watching the cabinet APP
pointments, and the action of the Sen
ein confirming or reversing them; and
in this spirit, we too will examine them.
Apart from promises and manifestos
made by the friends of the new Presi-
dent aud more or less clearly anthem
ticated as sanctioned by the President
himself, the mere personnel of the
cabinet sent to the Senate for confirm
alton, would be very far from affOrdiDg
the means of safe conjecture on this
question: to omit all other names,
cabinenr which contains the names of
sherman, Schurz, Eyarts and Key,
would admit of the expectation of
anything, everything, or nothing, ac-
cording to prejudices or wishes Of the
enquirer ::
We have not however been left to
this means of conjecture; not only
within the last two weeks. but for
weeks aud even months before the
electoral count was completed, the
friends of Mr.. Hayes have been taking
great pains to impress on politicians
generally, but upon Southern States
men especially, the idea that the past
policy of the Republican party in refer
ence to the South will by the present
men be SO modified, as to be essential
Iy reversed, and that, with Republi-
cans in office, democratic principles
will be acted upon. This announce
ment was so astounding that it left men
in perplexity both as to the sincerity
of the President in making it, aud his
ability to carry it out; and light on
both these subjects is sought by those
who study the cabinet appointments.
And it is in this attitude that we are
about to study them.
The first appointment of Importance
Is that of Mr. Sherman as Secretary
of the Treasury. At first sight this
appointment is calculated to lead men
either to doubt the sincerity of the
new Presidents promises or to infer
that he had abandoned them as imprac-
ticable. OF all politicians now before
the people. Mr.. Sherman has been
hitherto the typical embodiment and
manifestation of the extreme Radical
politics of the day. He has been the
mouth-piece of the administration in
the Senate, their constant adviser in
the secret counsels of the White
House, and their abetter and champion
In all the dark aud refarious transac-
tious of the Louisiana returning
board. TOplace such a man In a cabl-
net whose policy was liberal recogni-
ton of the right Of government
in the South was, in most mems eyes,
equivalent to setting the wOlfto watch
over the safety of the flock. And,
though many recent transactions have
recently made it manifest that he is at
least not actively in opposition to the
avowed policy of the new President,
vet few men will have as strong
a sfaith 10 the. ultimate realIZa-
ton of the new programme, as they
would have if Sherman of Ohio, were
anywhere but in the cabinet. We in-
fer that the motive which constrained
the President in making the appoint
ment was the absolute necessity of
having at least one man IN his cabinet,
who was familiar with the routine of
public business, and practically ac-
ouainted with the difficult art Of party
tactics no other men in the announced
cabinet has been in a position to ac-
uuire these necessary qualifications.
1t remains to be seen whether he en-
tered it in good faith, or with the pur-
pose ofwatehing his opportunity to up
set the whole concern and reinstate the
old order of things. Its certain that
he himself will bear watching.
Mr.. William NJ. Eyarts, secretary
Of State. Though Mr.. Evarts held
important political positions he is one
of the many accomplished lawyers who
has attained greater distinction and
emolumeuts from his practice as a
lawyer than in his official capacity, he
however neld the Office of Attorney
General in the cabinet of President
johnson, being recommended to that
high Office by the ability with which
he acted as United States district at
torney of New York. Few lawyers in
the country have been SO often en-
ployed in eases connected with import
ant political and international ques-
tious: thus in the case arising out of
the Cleopatra Cuban expedition, and as