Cromwell, William III., Frederick the Great, the First Napoleon, left behind them records of civil administration which for executive force and personal energy established a fame as great as they had acquired on the field of battle.

The inexperience of General Grant had not therefore hindered his election, and left no ground for apprehension as to the successful conduct of his administration.
The President had so well kept his own counsels in regard to the members of his Cabinet that not a single name was anticipated with certainty.

Five of the appointments were genuine surprises.
-- Elihu B.Washburne, long the faithful friend of General Grant, was nominated for Secretary of State.

He had just entered upon his ninth term as representative in Congress from Illinois, and resigned immediately after swearing in Mr.Blaine as Speaker,--a duty assigned to him as the oldest member of the House in consecutive service.

He was elected to Congress in 1852, from the Galena district, and his first term began on the day Franklin Pierce was inaugurated President.
His period of service was crowded with events of great magnitude, commencing with the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and ending with the elevation to the Presidency of the chief hero in the great civil war, to which that repeal proximately led.