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Chapter 54: President Grant's cabinet.—A. T. Stewart's disability.—Mr. Fish, Secretary of State.—Motley, minister to England.—the Alabama claims.—the Johnson-Clarendon convention.— the senator's speech: its reception in this country and in England.—the British proclamation of belligerency.— national claims.—instructions to Motley.—consultations with Fish.—political address in the autumn.— lecture on caste.—1869.

President Grant, as was to be expected from one whose career had been hitherto exclusively military, selected his Cabinet very much as a general selects his staff officers.1 Their names when announced suggested in most instances personal choice rather than public considerations. Two exceptions, however, were E. R. Hoar, who was called from the Supreme Court of Massachusetts to become Attorney-General; and Governor J. D. Cox of Ohio, who was appointed Secretary of the Interior. The selection of Cresswell of Maryland for Postmaster-General was well received by the country. Senators and Representatives were not consulted in these arrangements; and as all were treated alike none could take offence.2 The Cabinet, made up as it was, underwent from necessity rapid and even immediate reconstruction. The President was least fortunate in his personal surroundings. He chose for his secretaries four of his staff officers (0. E. Babcock, Adam Badeau, Horace Porter, and F. T. Dent),3 who, holding commissions in the army and drawing salaries

1 Badeau's ‘Grant in Peace,’ p. 163. This writer is cited only where his statements are intrinsically very probable, or he is corroborated by trustworthy evidence.

2 Sumner by habit kept aloof from President-making and Cabinet-making. The following statements of Adam Badeau are fictions; they have no support in trustworthy evidence: (1) That Sumner hoped to be Secretary of State in the Cabinet of President Grant; (2) That his friends with his consent pressed his name on Grant for the place; (3) That it had been arranged that Sumner should be Secretary of State in the event of President Johnson's impeachment being effected; (4) That Sumner came tardily in 1868 to the support of the Republican nominations. （Badean's ‘Grant in Peace,’ pp. 210, 211.) Another fiction for which another writer is responsible is that Sumner expected to be the Republican candidate for President in 1868, and expressed surprise that his name was passed by.

3 Also two more who rendered temporary service.

Cambridge, MA. Press of John Wilson and Son. 1877.

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