Page:Life of Henry Clay (Schurz; v. 1).djvu/345

Rh bulk of the offices in the hands of men whom the victors considered inimical to all they held dear, — even at that period of intense party feeling, Jefferson made only thirty-nine removals in the eight years during which he occupied the presidential chair. Some of these were made for cause; others he justified upon the ground, not that the offices were patronage which the victors could rightly claim, but that there should be members of each party in the service, to show that neither had, even temporarily, a monopoly right to them, and that, this fair distribution being accomplished, appointments should thereafter, regardless of party connection, depend exclusively on the candidate's integrity, business fitness, and fidelity to the Constitution. This sentiment was so firmly rooted in the public mind that even Jackson, at the beginning of Monroe's administration, advised the President against excluding from office members of the opposite party.

When he himself became President he announced in his inaugural address that the popular will had imposed upon him “the task of reform,” which would require “particularly the correction of those abuses that have brought the patronage of the federal government into conflict with the freedom of elections.” Never was the word “reform” uttered with a more sinister meaning. An immense multitude had assembled in Washington to see their party chief invested with the executive power, and to claim their rewards for the services