1832
CABINET QUALIFICATIONS
by Gouverneur Morris
Electronically Enhanced Text (c) Copyright 1996, World Library(R)
Cabinet Qualifications
TO determine who should be appointed Minister either of the
Finances, of War, of the Marine, or of Foreign Affairs, may be
difficult; but it may not be so difficult to determine the
qualities requisite for each of these departments, and having
thereby established a rule, the proper persons will be more easily
ascertained. These qualities will be classed under the different
heads of genius, temper, knowledge, education, principles, manners,
and circumstances.
Our Minister of the Finances should have a strong
understanding, be persevering, industrious, and severe in exacting
from all a rigid compliance with their duty. He should possess a
knowledge of mankind, and of the culture and commerce, produce and
resources, temper and manners of the different States; habituated
to business on the most extensive scale, particularly that which is
usually denominated money matters; and, therefore, not only a
regular-bred merchant, but one who has been long and deeply engaged
in that profession. At the same time, he should be practically
acquainted with our political affairs, and the management of public
business; warmly and thoroughly attached to America, not bigoted to
any particular State; and his attachment founded not on whim,
caprice, resentment, or a weak compliance with the current of
opinion, but on a manly and rational conviction of the benefits of
independence, his manners plain and simple, sincere and honest, his
morals pure, his integrity unblemished; and he should enjoy general
credit and reputation, both at home and abroad.
Our Minister of War should have a mind penetrating, clear,
methodical, comprehensive, joined with a firm and indefatigable
spirit. He should be thoroughly acquainted with the soldiery, know
the resources of the country, be most intimately informed of the
geography of America, and the means of marching and subsisting
armies in every part of it. He should be taken from the army, and
have acted at some time or other as a quartermaster-general, if not
as a commander in a separate department. He should be attached to
the civil head of the empire, and not envious of the glory of
others, but ambitious of honest fame; his manners those of a
generous soldier, and not of an intriguing politician;,
disagreeable to no considerable body or denomination of men, and by
all means agreeable to the commander-in-chief.
A Minister of the Marine should be a man of plain good-sense,
and a good economist, firm but not harsh; well acquainted with sea
affairs, such as the construction, fitting, and victualling of
ships, the conduct and manoeuvre on a cruise and in action, the
nautical face of the earth, and maritime phenomena. He should also
'know the temper, manners, and disposition of sailors; for all
which purposes it is proper, that he should have been bred to that
business, and have followed it, in peace and in war, in a military
and commercial capacity. His principles and manners should be
absolutely republican, and his circumstances not indigent.
A Minister of Foreign Affairs should have a genius quick,
lively, penetrating; should write on all occasions with clearness
and perspicuity; be capable of expressing his sentiments with
dignity, and conveying strong sense and argument in easy and
agreeable diction; his temper mild, cool, and placid; festive,
insinuating, and pliant, yet obstinate; communicative, and yet
reserved. He should know the human face and heart, and the
connections between them; should be versed in the laws of nature
and nations, and not ignorant of the civil and municipal law;
should be acquainted with the history of Europe, and with the
interests, views, commerce, and productions of the commercial and
maritime powers; should know the interests and commerce of America,
understand the French and Spanish languages, at least the former,
and be skilled in the modes and forms of public business; a man
educated more in the world, than in the closet, that by use, as
well as by nature, he may give proper attention to great objects,
and have proper contempt for small ones. He should be attached to
the independence of America, and the alliance with France, as the
great pillars of our politics and this attachment should not be
slight and accidental, but regular, consistent, and founded in
strong conviction. His manners gentle and polite; above all things
honest, and least of all things avaricious. His circumstances and
connections should be such, as to give solid pledges for his
fidelity; and he should by no means be disagreeable to the Prince,
with whom we are in alliance, his Ministers, or subjects.
THE END
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