When Cleveland began considering his Cabinet, while he was still at Albany letters serious and amusing poured in--asking office, giving advice; congratulatory, denunciatory. One newspaper man called on him and stated that from time to time he would send him information about public men, unsigned, but in his own handwriting. Daily envelopes came in, with cards of convenient form for filing, treating of nearly everybody proposed for the Cabinet, distinguished visitors announced in the public press as on their way to Albany, and well-known men generally--a separate card for each person. Good points were written in red ink; discreditable facts and characteristics were in black ink. Each card was a concise record of the deeds, character, and influence of the man dealt with, and gave an incisive, impartial, and accurate analysis of those about whom they were written from the point of view of an able and experienced observer of current events. The whole record made a kind of judgment-day book of men of both parties conspicuous in national affairs, in civil life, and in the army. Many people were surprised at the knowledge shown by Cleveland of the political affiliations of prominent men. When the portfolios were finally announced, there was general satisfaction. In selecting Senator Bayard of Delaware for Secretary of State, President Cleveland satisfied a large following that had twice declared its desire for Bayard as President. Senator Bayard’s charming family was a distinct acquisition to the official group. Daniel Manning, of New York, as the new Secretary of the Treasury, was also a happy choice. Manager and owner of the Albany _Argus_, a clever politician, and president of a National Bank, he possessed many qualifications for this post. There was an expression of universal satisfaction that he was to preside over the national money vaults. Upon the capable New England shoulders of William C. Endicott, astute lawyer and advocate of Civil Service Reform, was placed the responsibility of the War Department. The fortunes of our long-neglected navy, with its ninety more or less obsolete warships, were destined to undergo radical changes under the efficient direction of William C. Whitney, of New York. The story of how Mr. Whitney transformed the navy is an epic in American leadership and an epoch in American history. The Secretary of the Interior, Lucius Quintus Curtius Lamar, of Mississippi, represented the South. He was regarded as especially keen minded, a moulder of public opinion. Postmaster General Vilas was a Vermonter by birth and a Westerner by adoption, having established his business career in Wisconsin, from which state he went into the Union Army. He was an expert in the intricate machinery of American politics. The legal authority of the new Cabinet came from the Senate, a man with an enviable reputation. This was Attorney General Augustus H. Garland, of Arkansas.