was universally considered to be an
admirable selection. His thorough training and his intellectual
strength fitted him for any station.

--E. Rockwood Hoar of Massachusetts was named for Attorney-General.
His learning as a lawyer had been previously recognized by his
appointment to the Supreme Bench of his State,--a bench always eminent
for the legal ability and personal character of its members, and for
the value of its decisions. Outside of his mere professional sphere,
Judge Hoar was known as a man of generous culture, varied knowledge,
and the keenest wit. In party relations he had originally been an
anti-slavery Whig, and was prominent and influential in organizing the
Republican party.

--John A. J. Creswell of Maryland was nominated for Postmaster-General.
He was the best living representative of those loyal men of the Border
States who had proved a tower of strength to the Union cause. He was
the confidential friend, the eloquent eulogist, of Henry Winter Davis,
and had by service in both House and Senate won general recognition
as a man of ability and great moral courage.

These four appointments met with general approbation. If their names
had not all been anticipated, they were nevertheless welcome to the
great mass of the Republican party. Two other nominations created
general astonishment. Alexander T. Stewart, the well-known merchant
of New York, was named for Secretary of the Treasury; and Adolph E.
Borie of Philadelphia, long known in that city as a man of probity
and wealth, was named for Secretary of the Navy. No new nomination
was made for Secretary of War, and the hope with many was that General
Schofield might be continued in a place whose duties he had so
faithfully and so successfully discharged.

The President was very anxious to have Mr. Stewart in his Cabinet, and
was therefore surprised and chagrined to find, after he had been
nominated, that under the law he was not eligible to the office of
Secretary of the Treasury. In the Act establishing the Treasury
department, passed at the first session of the First Congress under the
Federal Government, it was provided that no person could be appointed
secretary, assistant secretary, comptroller, auditor, treasurer, or
registrar, who was "directly or indirectly concerned or interested in
carrying on the business of trade or commerce." It was further
provided that any person violating this Act should be deemed guilty
of a high misdemea