6121. OFFICES, Participation in.—[further continued].
The present administration
had a task imposed on it which was unavoidable,
and could not fail to exert the
bitterest hostility in those who opposed it.
The preceding administration left ninety-nine
out of every hundred in public office of the
federal sect. Republicanism had been the
mark on Cain which had rendered those who
bore it exiles from all portion in the trusts
and authorities of their country. This description
of citizens called imperiously and
justly for a restoration of right. It was intended,
however, to have yielded to this in
so moderate a degree as might conciliate
those who had obtained exclusive possession;
but as soon as they were touched, they endeavored
to set fire to the four corners of the
public fabric, and obliged us to deprive of the
influence of office several who were using it
with activity and vigilance to destroy the
confidence of the people in their government,
and thus to proceed in the drudgery of removal
farther than would have been, had not
their own hostile enterprises rendered it necessary
in self-defence.—
To Benjamin Hawkins. Washington ed. iv, 466.
Ford ed., viii, 212.
(W.
1803)
