How carefully the administration investigated the character and antecedents of the Rhode Island candidates is shown in a letter from Henry Marchant written to Alexander Hamilton, but indorsed in Washington's hand. Dear Sir, NEWPORT, Decr 9th 1793. Private and Confidential. By the last Post I was honored with your confidential Communication of the 20th of Nov! - From appearances here I was fearful some embarrassment might arise on the Subject of a fit Person for District Attorney for this District. Wishing to be as happy as possible with the Person who should be appointed; — and not knowing that my Sentiments might be expected, or to whom I might with Propriety address them, and knowing they were at all Times demandable; - upon so delicate a Subject I did not interfere my Opinion, but contented myself with informing the President thro' the Secretary of State, with the Vacancy of that Office, by the Death of Mr. Channing — With Respect to the two Gentlemen recommended, Mr. Howell and Mr. Barnes, I have not the least personal Predeliction. I conceive it my Duty to comply with your request. The Interest of the Public shall be my End, in the Freedom with which I shall venture to express my Ideas. — Upon almost any other Occasion I should not conceive myself at this Liberty. Mr. Howell I have been many years acquainted with, and ever on good Terms. You might have had some Knowledge of Him in Congress, and consequently in some good Measure of His political Character, Temper of Mind and Abilities. He was not then a Lawyer. He is a Man of Learning - He was for some years very useful in a learned Society, the College of this State. He has been a Member of the Legislature, and a Judge of the Superior Court of this State: - and then it was I believe, that He first had the Thought of studying Law with an Intention of entering into the Profession. - Upon quiting the Bench, He soon after was admitted an Att and Counsellor at Law, and has been, for one year only I think, Att! Gen! of the state. There is no Doubt of his Learning and Abilities sufficient for the exercise of the Office of an Att of the U. S., nor has His Integrity, to my Knowledge, ever been questioned. It has been frequently lamented that His political Conduct has been unsteady, and supposed to be too much lead by Motives of present applaudits; and He has accordingly never been so happy as to retain them long in any Place or station. He does not appear to me possessed of those easy and accommodating Manners, which consistant with Integrity and Justice to our own Opinions, are essential to gain and preserve Esteem and Confidence. Sanguine and persevering at the Moment, He yet wants Steadiness and Prudence. - It is indeed to be regretted that this affair should assume a Party Complection. To this part of the State, I am confident Mr. Howell would not be agreable Nor are they sanguine in Behalf of Mr. Barnes. They have not I believe thought it proper to interfere. I am convinced however, they would be more happy if on enquiry, a third Character could be found competent and eligible. - Upon the Decease of Mr. Channing Our Thoughts turned upon Mr. Benj Bourne and Mr. Ray Greene, as there was a handsome opening for two Gentlemen of the Profession. It was with Pleasure we heard, both those Gentlemen had thoughts of coming here. But Mr. Bourne may not think such an Appointment an Object sufficient to induce Him to quit Congress, or that His Duty to His Constituents would justify Him in suddenly quiting His Post. Whether He should reside in Newport or Providence, all Parties I doubt not would be satisfied with the Appointment. I must say again, that wherever the Judge resides it would be happy to Him and beneficial to the Public that the Atty. should reside in the same Place Mr. Ray Greene is the Son of William Greene Esq! of Warwick about the Center of this State. The old Gentleman very independant in His Circumstances is a thorough Whig, highly esteemed, was Governor of this State in our most arduous and trying scenes with the highest approbation. - His Father, Grandfather to the present Gentleman had been Gov! many years past, and in like manner possessed the public Confidence. — A Relation and the closest Friendship subsisted between this Family and the late Gen' Greene. - The present Mr. Ray Greene possesses in an eminent Degree the virtues of His Father and Grandfather with the advantage of a liberal Education. With Respect and Sincire Esteem SECRETARY HAMILTON. It cannot be denied that in the applications for office under Washington's administration we find the germs from which the spoils system afterwards developed. We have seen that soldiers of the Revolution, having received little pay during the war and none at its close, conceived that the gratitude of the country for their services should take the substantial form of civil office, and that in the state where opposition to the new government had been most successful and pronounced federal patronage was extended only to the party which supported the government. It is easy to see how the idea that something besides mere fitness for office constituted a reason for appointment should have spread rapidly among the people in succeeding years. Unchecked by law and fostered by shrewd men who turned it to their own advantage, it grew steadily, and the applications for office under the administrations succeeding Washington's show how it advanced pari passu with the advance in intensity of party spirit. Originally confined to applications to fill existing vacancies, it naturally extended to requests for the removal of officials simply because of the political opinions they held or the political activity they displayed. But this phase of it, at least, was steadily resisted by the appointing power, until Andrew Jackson surrendered to it. GAILLARD HUNT. "THE PEOPLE THE BEST GOVERNORS" In the history of the use of the written constitution as a basis of government, no period so brief has been marked by such activity in constituent proceedings and by such political path-breaking as the decade of the American Revolution. Yet of the seventeen constitutions, successful and other, whose appearance marks the ten years, 1775-84, those of but two states, New Hampshire and Massachusetts, were submitted to the action of the people. ments both of the cause and of the result of this mode of procedure mark the contemporaneous literature in each of those states, and especially in Massachusetts, with its superior colonial press, its high grade of political intelligence, and its abundance of vigorous leaders. Ele The literary products of a political nature in those years may be grouped into three principal classes: the mass of articles in the press by the historian Gordon and his anonymous contemporaries; the large number of town votes, involving, especially in the years of the submission of constitutions, a large amount of practical detail as well as political theory; and, third, the work of the pamphleteers. Types of this last class appear in the aristocratic Carter Braxton's Address to the Convention . . . of Virginia; on the Subject of Government in general, and recommending a particular Form to their Consideration1 and in John Dickinson's Essay on a frame of Government for Pennsylvania.2 In the same field there were produced by Massachusetts men two pamphlets of especial note, the widely influential Thoughts on Government of John Adams, and the locally powerful Essex Result of Theophilus Parsons. To the short list of these strongly 1 Philadelphia, 1776; pp. 25; a copy is in the Library of Congress. 2 Philadelphia, 1776; pp. 16; a copy is in the Library of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. 3 Philadelphia, 1776; pp. 28; in the Library of the Historical Society of Pennsyl vania is a copy in which is written, under date of New York, March, 1869: "Of the original edition this is the only copy I have ever seen. Geo. Bancroft." The text is reprinted in 4 American Archives, IV. 1136-1140; and see works of John Adams, IV. 189-200. 4 Newburyport, 1778; pp. 68; copies are in the Library of Harvard College; the text was reprinted in 1859 in the Memoir of Theophilus Parsons, by his son. representative writings the addition is possible of a work bearing the imprint of 1776, and in its contents bringing out many of the opinions later so prevalent. Failure, after inquiry of thoroughly representative authorities, to locate in this country at present any but a single copy,1 renders the full title worthy transcription: The People | the | Best Governors: | or a | Plan of Government Founded on the just Principles of Natural Freedom. | Printed in M,DCCLXXVI. As in the other pamphlets of the kind, the authorship was not proclaimed; it differed from them in not indicating its place of publication. The latter omission is tentatively supplied in the catalogue of the British Museum as Boston, but, at present, no verification of such is offered. By way of well directed apology the author in his preface says. that to "help in some measure to eradicate the notion of arbitrary power, heretofore drank in, and to establish the liberties of the people of this country upon a more generous footing, is the design of the following impartial work, now dedicated by the Author, to the honest farmer and citizen." He puts himself squarely on record, and on the doubly "popular" side, by confessing himself "a friend to the popular government," and by also offering the willing confession, that to him it has appeared "that the forms of government that have hitherto been proposed since the breach with Great Britain, by the friends of the American States, have been rather too arbitrary." To counteract every leaning to the "arbitrary" was the business of a "popular" writer, and to remedy such an unwelcome tendency he would emphasize the immediate dependence of both legislative and executive officers upon the people; the people should elect directly the latter; to matters pertaining to the legislative branch, most of this early tract is devoted. Turning to the important feature of the qualifications of legislators, the author goes to the extreme of liberality when he considers knowledge and social virtue sufficient qualifications for such positions. "Let it not be said in future generations," he goes on, "that money was made by the founders of the American states, an essential qualification in the rulers of a free people." As to the equally important matter of the basis of representation, his reason1 In the Library of the Connecticut Historical Society; pp. 13. Mention of this pamphlet is found in the instructions given by the town of Wilbraham, Mass., to its Representatives, May 19, 1777: "That in all their proceedings they have Special recorse (as an assistance) to a Little book or Pamphlet Intitled, The People the best Governors or a Plan of Government, &c Lincoln Papers, Library of The American Antiquarian Society. |