Mr. Barry was the first postmaster-general who had the honor of being one of the Cabinet. Whether such a movement has benefited the postal department or not can only be ascertained by a reference to its records. As these present more the appearance of political names, figures, changes, removals, and a confusion of all the elements which make up a party, it is doubtful if the public mind is prepared to view the postal department in any other light than that of one of the revolving political luminaries of the country. A reference, however, to some statistics furnished in this work, and an occasional reference to its not being a self-sustaining institution, may probably throw some light upon the subject. We have avoided, through motives of nationality rather than of choice, any direct allusion to frauds in the postal department. “When Judge McLean left the department it was,” said his friends, “in a thriving condition.” Such was not the case. From “The Aurora,” edited by the late William Duane, bearing date January 10, 1835, we take the following statement:— “It would be a hopeless task to seek the _qualities_, _actions_, _evidence of fitness_, or _principles_ of Mr. McLean. We know he was a member of Congress: can any one _discover_ any thing which he did there? He was appointed postmaster-general to cover the _retreat_ of R. J. Meigs, who should have been removed three years before. “And what did he do in the general post-office? Why, the men who had practised the most enormous abuses, which had been proved by _blanching evidence_ before Congress, he retained in the prosecution of their _former business_. “The reproach is no doubt to be shared with Congress, which, on the occasion of the investigation of the sale of post-office drafts, suffered the inquiry to be stifled after attempts had been made, without success, on some poor men to suppress the truth, and who were discharged for their fidelity, whilst others were retained whose memories, like the memorable Italian delator, was _non mi ricordo_! “Mr. McLean entered the general post-office when it was whelmed in abuses and in debt. Accounts in that office had not been brought up, or cash accounts balanced, for several years; and, in fact, no true _account_ of the affairs of the post-office department at that period had ever appeared. “Mr. McLean was a mere walking-stick for the _directors_ of his predecessor. He made some efforts to bring up the business, and some laws were passed to oblige accountability; but he left the general post-office as he found it, deep in debt,—saddling his successor with the burden, and leaving the system in such disorder as to render it necessary for Mr. Barry to organize the department wholly anew, were it only to extricate it from the hands of those men who had thrown it all into confusion.”[38] Mr. Barry, in his address to the people, speaking of the department as it came from the hands of Mr. McLean to him, says,—