6161. OFFICE-HOLDERS, Partizan.—[further continued] .
I have never removed a
man merely because he was a federalist. I
have never wished them to give a vote at an
election, but according to their own wishes.
But as no government could discharge its
duties to the best advantage of its citizens, if its
agents were in a regular course of thwarting
instead of executing all its measures, and were
employing the patronage and influence of
their offices against the government and its
measures, I have only requested they would
be quiet, and they should be safe; that if their
conscience urges them to take an active and
zealous part in opposition, it ought also to
urge them to retire from a post which they
could not conscientiously conduct with fidelity
to the trust reposed in them; and on
failure to retire, I have removed them; that
is to say, those who maintained an active and
zealous opposition to the government.—
To John Page. Washington ed. v, 136.
Ford ed., ix, 118.
(W.
July. 1807)
