6792. POST OFFICE, Patronage of.—
[I
said to President Washington] that I thought
it would be advantageous to declare [that the
Post office is included in the Department of
State] for another reason, to wit, that the Department
of Treasury possessed already such
an influence as to swallow up the whole Executive
powers, and that even the future Presidents
(not supported by the weight of character
which himself possessed) would not be able to
make head against this Department. That in
urging this measure I had certainly no personal
interest, since, if I was supposed to have any
appetite for power, yet as my career would certainly
be exactly as short as his own, the intervening
time was too short to be an object. My
real wish was to avail the public of every occasion
during the residue of the President's
period, to place things on a safe footing.—
The Anas. Washington ed. ix, 101.
Ford ed., i, 174.
(Feb. 1792)
