Thursday, October 12, 2023

Senator Daniel Webster to Franklin Haven, Friday Morning, July 12, 1850

Washington, July 12, 1850. Friday morning.

MY DEAR SIR,—You will hear various rumors respecting appointments to the Cabinet, but none of them will deserve credit any further than they rest on general probability. Nothing is decided as yet. The present Cabinet have all tendered their resignations, but they will not be answered till after the funeral.

The three important departments are State, Treasury, and Interior. I have no doubt some man known to be thoroughly sound in revenue matters, will be appointed to the Treasury. As to the State Department, I have no idea who will have it, although, if the power were with me, I think I could find a man1 without going out of Massachusetts, who has talent enough, and knowledge enough; but whether he is at this moment so fresh in the minds of the people that his appointment would strike the public mind favorably, may be a doubt. Nobody can well be Secretary of State who has not fortune, unless he be a bachelor. The Secretary of State is the head of the administration, and he must have a house, sometimes to receive guests in. He is of course necessarily in daily communication with the diplomatic corps, which I believe is twice as numerous now as it was twenty years ago.

My dear Sir, you see the spirit of good-will which is manifesting itself here. This is the golden hour of opportunity, be assured. The opposition gentlemen are determined, all the conservative part of them at least, to give the administration fair play; and Mr. Fillmore is well-intentioned and discreet. He will meet with annoyances from the rather overbearing spirit of a certain quarter, but I hope he will stand stiff. If he is successful in forming his administration, I verily believe a prospect is before us for a better state of things than we have enjoyed for twenty years. Yours truly,

DAN'L WEBSTER.
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1 Mr. Everett.

SOURCE: Fletcher Webster, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Daniel Webster, Vol. 2, p. 376-7

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