6077. OFFICES, Administration of.—[further continued].
The transaction of the
great interests of our country costs us little
trouble or difficulty. There the line is plain
to men of some experience. But the task of
appointment is a heavy one indeed. He on
whom it falls may envy the lot of a Sisyphus
or Ixion. Their agonies were of the body:
this of the mind. Yet, like the office of hangman,
it must be executed by some one. It
has been assigned to me and made my duty.
I make up my mind to it, therefore, and abandon
all regard to consequences.—
To Larkin Smith.
Ford ed., viii, 336.
(W.
Nov. 1804)
