Evening journal., 1912-04-26
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
The Secretary Of State That
Grant Found In the Archives
By Holland.

When General Grant became Presi-
dent of the United States on March 4,
1869, he nominated for Secretary of
State Elihu b. Washburne Of Illinois.
During aud after the Civil War, Mr..
Washburne as a member Of Congress
from the Galena, H., district, Grants
home, was instrumental in advancing
the fortunes of General Grant. and the
country rightly presumed. when an
nouncement was made of Washburne's
appointment as Secretary Of State,
that Grant had taken this method OF
showing his gratitude 10 Washburne.
Within less than a month, however,
after he had entered the cabinet, Mr..
Washburne resigned to accept appoint
ment as minister to France, a post
which he much preferred to that Of
! Secretary of State Then Grant sent to
the Senate the name of Hamilton Fish
OF New York as that Of the man he
had selected to succeed Mr.. Wash
burne in the cabinet.
Straightway, the entire country
asked, "Who is Hamilton Fish," He
had apparently been almost complete
| ly forgotten; his services as Governor
Of New York in the late forties, his
career in the Senate in the iifties, his
active part in the first Lincoln cam
paign had, apparently, passed from
the minds of men during the decade
and more since Fish's retirement to
private life. In the Senate itself there
were only a very few men who knew
Mr.. Fish because they had been col
leagues in antebellum days.
/ Naturally, after the country had
been told of Mr.. Fish's past career,
there was much speculation as to how
Grant had come to select him as head
of the cabinet Exactly what did de-
termine Grant to appoint Mr.. Fish has
never been established. One fact, how
ever, became known, and that was that
the President consulted no politician
respecting the appointment The near
est he ever came to talking over the
appointment with any one was when
he summoned his warm personal
friend, Roscoe Conkling, to the White
House and told him confidentially
and on grounds of personal friendship
that the appointment Of Hamilton Fish
had been decided on.
Now. Conkling, as a profound stu
dent Of the political history of tho
country, knew of Fish's past public
services MAY l ask why, Mr. Presi-
dent" he said, you have gone to the
archives to select some one who, you
think, will serve acceptably as Secre-
tary Of Slater"
Not to any archives, Senator Conk-
/ ling" answered the President, adding:
Il have selected Mr. Fish because he
| is not a politician, because he has no
political entanglements, and l say to
you now that If his health is spared
| believe his record as Secretary Of
State will compare favorably with
I that of any of his predecessors. have
seen the man. have talked with him.
He is the kind of man | like, and,
hope, Senator, you, too, will like him.
Fish served as Secretary of State
until Grant retired from the presi-
dency, and when he was a private citi-
zen once more, Grant declared that OF
all his appointments as President the
one which, on the whole, had given
him the greatest qualification was that
of Hamilton Fish, whom he brought
out of forgotten past into present
fraught with great responsibility. Fol
it was during Mr.. Fish's incumbency
of the state department that the fam
Gus Alabama claims were decided, the
long standing northwestern boundary
dispute with Great Britain amicably
settled and the complications CROWNS
out Of the Nirginius affair adjusted
without a recourse to war. And the
skill with which Hamilton Fish hand.
led these three great diplomatic prob
lens has given him place in Ameri
can history as one Of our great Secre
taries of State.
| Copyright, 1912, by r. J. Edwards
All rights reserved
Tomorrow Mr.. Edwards will tell o.
"The Preacher Who Gave the WorlC
a New Kind of Sermon"