The writings of George Washington; being his correspondence, addresses, messages, and other papers, official and private, selected and published from the original manuscripts; with a life of the author, notes and illustrations. By Jared Sparks.

454 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. [1789.
No part of the President's duties gave him more
anxiety, than that of distributing the offices in his gift.
Applications innumerable flowed in upon hlhn even before he left Mount Vernon, many of them from his
personal friends, and others supported by the recommendations of his friends; nor did they cease as long
as any vacancies remained. He early prescribed to
himself a rule, however, from which he never swerved, which was to give no pledges or encouragement
to any applicant. He answered them all civilly, but
avowed his determination to suspend a decision till the
time of making the appointments should arrive, and
then, without favor or bias, to select such individuals
as in his judgment were best qualified to execute with
faithfulness and ability the trust reposed in them. His
sentiments and motives are well explained in a letter
written to a gentleman, who had solicited an office
for another person.
"From the moment when the necessity had become
more apparent," said he, "and as it were inevitable, I
anticipated, with a heart filled with distress, the ten
thousand embarrassments, perplexities, and troubles, to
which I must again be exposed in the evening of a
life already nearly consumed in public cares. Among
all these anxieties, I will not conceal from you, I anticipated none greater, than those that were likely to
be produced by applications for appointments to the
different offices, which would be created under the
new government. Nor will I conceal, that my apprehensions have already been but too well justified.
Scarcely a day passes, in which applications of one
kind or another do not arrive; insomuch that, had I
not early adopted some general principles, I should
before this time have been wholly occupied in this
business. As it is, I have found the number of answers,