Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. I.djvu/57

appointments to office. But at the earliest moment he adopted rules and principles on this subject which might well be commended to presidents and governors in later days. In a letter to his friend James Bowdoin, of Massachusetts, bearing date May 9, 1789, less than six weeks after his inauguration, he used language that might fitly serve as an introduction to the civil-service reform manual of the present hour. "No part of my duty," he says, "will be more delicate, and in many instances more unpleasing, than that of nominating or appointing persons to office. It will undoubtedly often happen that there will be several candidates for the same office, whose pretensions, ability, and integrity may be nearly equal, and who will come forward so equally supported in every respect as almost to require the aid of supernatural intuition to fix upon the right. I shall, however, in all events, have the satisfaction to reflect that I entered upon my administration unconfined by a single engagement, uninfluenced by any ties of blood or friendship, and with the best intentions and fullest determination to nominate to office those persons only who, upon every consideration, were the most deserving, and who would probably execute their several functions to the interest and credit of the American Union, if such characters could be found by my exploring every avenue of information