New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-06-21


held ont to them by the British, in the shape OF
superior gifts and larger allowances
In 1881 Cass was offered the portfolio OF
Secretary of War in Jackson's second CABINET,
and he accepted the position. The first Cabinet
had fallen to pieces in consequence OF the Presl-
dents erroneous notion that he could dictate
TO society as easily to his sycophants and under
strappers He undertook to force Mrs. Eaton
Peggy" Eaton-upon the women Of the capital
who had refused to receive her, and as might
have been predicted the hero Of New-Orleans came
to grief speedily. Mrs. Eaton not received,
even though the unctuous Van Buren
smiled his sweetest upon her, and the
outcome of the unlueky experiment was
the breaking up Of the Cabinet. This event,
however, opened the door to Cas-, who, being a
warm adnirer Of jackson, was in his element
The existing condition of politics was, however
such as to be pretty sure test of character and
tendencies and it is not altogether to the credit
of Cass that he should have found it easy to
make himself at home in the circumstances. Pro-
fessor Mclaughlin says: awe are but just com
ing to an appreciation of what this period signifies
in our development a constitutional State. 1t
meant that national politics and methods were
mob politics and methods The trickster politi-
clans who had been turning thumbscrews and
transferred their machinery to broader field
Jackson was not demagogue. He sincerely be
lieved in the doctrines he preached and in the
sentiments which he put into practice. But he was
the conduit pipe through which flowed into the
field of national administration the tide Of political
prescription, intrigue, and legerdemain which had
been long deluging the States" Jackson may not
have been demagogue, but he was a coarse
ignorant, overbearing and mulishly obstinate man.
whose tastes were low, whose associates were
worse than common, and who had no notion what
ever Of constitutional government, or, indeed, OF
any form of government beyond the application OF
his own will to public affairs.
jackson may not literally have introduced the
spoils system, but he certainly made it viler than
il had ever been. Cass could not sit in the Cabi-
net of such a President without mourning re-
sponsibility for some of the high-handed acts oil
his official chief, and he must have regarded ms
surroundings with complacency which in itself
shows that he was not over-scrupulous In fact
his biographer admits that his first practical
training in national politics he received In thc
stern Jacksonian school, school whose cardinal
regulations possessed a mischievous inconsistency
Love for the Union, hatred of foreign aggression
championship Of popular rights. spos dlstrlbu-
ton, machine politics. were badly mingled strict
construction of the Constitution struggled IN equal
conflict with reckless abuse of power; and
high-handed interference was supported by APP
peals to the people, who are unknown in our
political system except as they express their will
by constitutional and prescribed methods In
short it was very bad school indeed, and CaSs
got no benefit from it. One act Of JacksonS
he rightly admired and defended, and that was
the Presidents course in the notification episode
Whether if a jackson had occupied Buchanan S
seat however, the Rebellion would have been
nipped in the bud, as Professor Mclaughlin sug-
geSts, is anything but clear. Things had ad-
vanced far when Buchanan became President.
On the Bank question Cass had the courage to
disagree with Jackson. and in consequence rendered
his resignation. but induced to withdraw it,
The Florida Indian War; or rather outrage. oc-
CURED while Cass was at the head Of the War
Department, and he must bear his share Of the
accountability. There was iniquity in the poiicy
and In its application. beyond question: Cass was
an honest man. but there is no good grousd for
believing that he was in advance OF his period in
executive skill, and ne probably blundered in com
pany with his fellows. However. he grew tired
of the routine work Of his office and the conhne
ment and Jackson offered him the ministry 10
France. which he accepted. At Paris he made
tour in Italy and Greece and brief experience Of
French life. wrote book to tell the world what
the French were liked. how they lived. and so
forth. II was hardly work of genius. as may b.
supposed. The Ashburton treaty afforded him an
opportunity to write much and acutely upon the
right of search which, as he rightly claimed, that
instrument did not cover. Through this subject
he drifted into the controversy with Webster. and
made some political capital out Of II. though il is
not correct to say that the country generally con-
sdered Cass to have had the best of the argu-
ment He resigned and came home however
and for time watched the course Of national
politics, until he developed the Presidential bee in
his bonnet and after an unsuccessful essay went
TO join the long list of able men who have failed
in the same venture.
In the Senate. to which he was elected
presently, Cass made many speeches, but
attained little influence. being disposed to com
promises. AS Secretary Of State under Buchanan
he became associated with colleagues most OF
whom to prove traitors. and it may be that
this association has to some extent injured him.
though he himself remained loyal to the Union
lie lived to see secession failure. he who had
witnessed the beginnings of the Union which il
assailed His place in any series of American
statesmen is not to be questioned. If he not Of
the first or perhaps even Of the second
order of minds. We do not consider
that he was a "great' statesman. though
Professor Mclaughlin claims the adjective for him
even while frankly admitting his inferiority He
was certainly not free from narrowness. and he
was too radical a JacksOnian Democrat to be clear
of the influences which that grade of politics has
always fostered Cass does not belong to the class
Of men who saved the country. But he was a
nca nj "A Of 1or bla
ability, and he performed services for which his
memory may well he kept green. The present
biography is well written. on the whole temperate
and fair. and only little given to excess of eulogy
FRENCHMEN ON NATURALISMn