That some
ought to be removed from office, and that all ought not, all mankind
will agree. But where to draw the line, perhaps no two will agree.
Consequently, nothing like a general approbation on this subject can be
looked for. Some principles have been the subject of conversation, but
not of determination; e.g. all appointments to civil offices during
pleasure, made after the event of the election was certainly known
to Mr. Adams, are considered as nullities. I do not view the persons
appointed as even candidates for the office, but make others without
noticing or notifying them. Mr. Adams's best friends have agreed this
is right. 2. Officers who have been guilty of official mal-conduct are
proper subjects of removal. 3. Good men, to whom there is no objection
but a difference of political principle, practised on only as far as
the right of a private citizen will justify, are not proper subjects of
removal, except in the case of attorneys and marshals. The courts being
so decidedly federal and irremovable, it is believed that republican
attorneys and marshals, being the doors of entrance into the courts,
are indispensably necessary as a shield to the republican part of our
fellow-citizens, which, I believe, is the main body of the people.
These principles are yet to be considered of, and I sketch them to
you in confidence.
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