Advice on Removals (1801)

BY POSTMASTER-GENERAL GIDEON GRANGER AND PIERREPONT EDWARDS

A. GRANGER TO JEFFERSON

SUFFIELD April 15^th, 1801.

. . . AS to the case of M^r Goodrich and the general questions affecting removals from office in this State, I have had a full consultation with Mess⁸ Edwards, Thirby and Wolcott and a few other tried friends. They are all agreed that the cause requires the removal of M.^r Goodrich immediately, and of various other principal officers as soon and in such manner as the Executive should deem proper; for my own part I have yielded to the same opinion so far as respects the principal officers in Newhaven, Hartford, Middletown and Litchfield though reluctantly and with some apprehension. I had always till last winter fondly cherished the hope that when the public will should declare in favor of the friends of equal liberty the foes to the constitution would attempt a reconciliation, and the country be happy and quiet; nor was this hope abandoned untill I became acquainted with the scandalous scenes acted on the floor of Congress, with a clear view of destroying every thing dear and valuable at a single blow. I am now fully convinced of this truth, that though defeated our foes are not conquered, though they crouch it is but to secure their prey; — that their exertions are and will be increased, and that finally the Republic must expire at the feet of aristocracy, or the faction be fully prostrated. . . .

Premising that I am fully sensible of the agitations which will be produced by removals from office, that I have no connections for whom I wish office, and that I sincerely lament the existence of a state of things which require acts calculated to affect individuals, and to give pain to the feelings of the executive — I proceed to state the reasons upon which I have founded my opinion.

First, — the principle cannot be controverted, that it is just, fair and honorable that the friends of the Government should have at least as great a proportion of the honors and offices of the Government as they are of the whole people. . . .

Secondly, The general depression of the Republicans in this State, who have suffered every thing, combatting a Phalanx vastly superior to what can be found in any other part of the union forms a strong reason. Nothing can be lost here, and something may be gained: How far this applies to other parts of the union is not for me to judge. A knowledge that we had the real confidence of the Executive I think would have a happy effect, for already it is used as an argument to affect our elections that the President used the Democrats to ride into office, that now seated there he has evinced his contempt for them, and will rely solely on the federalists for support. . . .

Lastly, The sacred rule that no man shall be persecuted for his opinions decently and reasonably maintained will not apply to any of our official Characters. I believe without a single exception All, and I know most have been bitter persecutors. . . .

B. EDWARDS TO JEFFERSON

NEW HAVEN May 12th, 1801.

. . . THERE is but one opinion among the intelligent republicans in Connecticutt, respecting the case of M^r Goodrich; all agree, that a removal will be right in itself, and that the Measure is necessary, as it regards the general cause in Connecticutt. We have "consulted and advised on the subject, taking a broad view of it, general as well as local" . . . We are convinced, that his being continued in office, instead of reconciling his friends, or any part of the federalists to republicanism, and to your administration will strengthen them in their Opposition. They boldly assert that you dare not dismiss any federal officer in Connecticut. And they assign two reasons — "That you know, that if your administration is supported at all in Connecticutt, it must be supported by the federalists," and . . . they say, "Mr. Jefferson has displaced no Officer in Connecticut; he has in other States; and is it because the Officers in Connecticutt are more republican than in other States? No, they are the strongest federalists in the United States; the true cause of his thus conducting is, he dare not trust a republican in Connecticut, he knows they are, what we assert them to be, disorganizers. Every hour that the work of displacing is deferred gives strength to this delusion. I should not have mentioned what I have, were it not constantly and hourly said by the most influential and distinguished of the federal party. . . . They talk here as tho’ all power was still in their hands. If you administer the Government, say they, according to former administration, they will support you, but if you displace officers they will turn you out at the next Election.

Our Southern brethren, I presume, have no just conception, as to the state of things in Connecticutt; the malignity of the federalists here is wholly inconceivable to any, but such as are eye and ear witnesses to all; we should be as slow to believe as they, if we had not had the evidence of our own senses, as to their conversation and conduct. The federalists are a corps most systematically organized. The Governor and Council, joined to the corporation of Yale College, which was originally wholly eclesiastical (and thirteen out of twenty one are now eclesiastics,) make all the arrangements; these are communicated to three general meetings of our established Clergy . . . from these general meetings the plans are communicated to the County consociations, and there there are generally two in each County: these are composed of all the established Clergy living within the precincts of the respective Consociations — from them it is communicated to all the true federalists of each Parish. By these means they act with perfect uniformity; they are also, in this way, taught an uniformity of speech, on all political questions; so that if you hear any thing said by a federalist of tolerable respectibility here, you may be sure that the same thing is prepared to be said every where. Since your election to the Presidency they have formed a plan, which looks more like producing some serious [undecipherable] than any that has ever yet been adopted by them: the Clergy are all to inculcate, with earnestness, in private conversation, and from the Pulpit the necessity of submitting to Government, the danger of speaking evil of those who administer the Government, so long as they administer it well. they are to shew the fatal effects of not observing this sort of conduct; by stating, that if good men, who are in Office, are calumniated; it will probably be the means of bringing into office bad men, Deists, men of no religion, men profligate in their morals; and to shew clearly that such will be the effect of calumniating good officers, they are to tell the people, to look at recent events. . . . with these facts in full View, we do not hesitate to say, that a temporizing policy will be, here, a ruinous policy. The Collector at Middletown deserves a dismision on more grounds than one. Violent, irritable, priest-ridden, implacable, a ferocious federalist, and a most indecent enimy to you and your administration, — one of the toast drank on the 4^th of July last at Middletown, was "Thomas Jefferson may he receive from his fellow Citizens the reward of his merit," he drank it, adding, "a halter." I could fill a quire of paper with speeches of his equally Violent and indecent. As to M^r Goodrich’s successor we all agree that Samuel Bishop Esq^r of this town, Mayor of our City Chief Judge of our County Court, and a Decon in one of our established churches ought to be the man. In him will be embraced respectability, integrity, religion steady habits and firm republicanism. I deemed it important to you important to the United States that I should say nothing, in answer to your letter, but what should be the result of correct information, and sound deliberation; and lest I should fail in some of these important Points I have defered writing till this late hour. I am conscious that I have written nothing which according to existing evidence, and that full and clear, I am not authorized to write. . . .

Gaillard Hunt, (New York, etc., 1898), III, 272–277 passim.