Date: 1801-07-12
President: Thomas Jefferson

 GENTLEMAN,  I have received the remonstrance you were pleased to address to me, on the   appointment of Samuel Bishop to the office of collector of New Haven, lately   vacated by the death of David Austin. The right of our fellow citizens to represent   to the public functionaries their opinion on proceedings interesting to them,   is unquestionably a constitutional right, often useful, sometimes necessary,   and will always be respectfully acknoleged by me.  Of the various executive duties, no one excites more anxious concern than   that of placing the interests of our fellow citizens in the hands of honest   men, with understandings sufficient for their station. No duty, at the same   time, is more difficult to fulfil. The knolege of characters possessed by a   single individual is, of necessity, limited. To seek out the best through the   whole Union, we must resort to other information, which, from the best of men,   acting disinterestedly and with the purest motives, is sometimes incorrect.   In the case of Samuel Bishop, however, the subject of your remonstrance, time   was taken, information was sought, &amp; such obtained as could leave no room   for doubt of his fitness. From private sources it was learnt that his understanding   was sound, his integrity pure, his character unstained. And the offices confided   to him within his own State, are public evidences of the estimation in which   he is held by the State in general, and the city &amp; township particularly   in which he lives. He is said to be the town clerk, a justice of the peace,   mayor of the city of New Haven, an office held at the will of the legislature,   chief judge of the court of common pleas for New Haven county, a court of high   criminal and civil jurisdiction wherein most causes are decided without the   right of appeal or review, and sole judge of the court of probates, wherein   he singly decides all questions of wills, settlement of estates, testate and   intestate, appoints guardians, settles their accounts, and in fact has under   his jurisdiction and care all the property real and personal of persons dying.   The two last   offices, in the annual gift of the legislature, were given to him in May last.   Is it possible that the man to whom the legislature of Connecticut has so recently   committed trusts of such difficulty &amp; magnitude, is `unfit to be the collector   of the district of New Haven,' tho' acknoleged in the same writing, to have   obtained all this confidence `by a long life of usefulness?' It is objected,   indeed, in the remonstrance, that he is 77. years of age; but at a much more   advanced age, our Franklin was the ornament of human nature. He may not be able   to perform in person, all the details of his office; but if he gives us the   benefit of his understanding, his integrity, his watchfulness, and takes care   that all the details are well performed by himself or his necessary assistants,   all public purposes will be answered. The remonstrance, indeed, does not allege   that the office has been illy conducted, but only apprehends that it will be   so. Should this happen in event, be assured I will do in it what shall be just   and necessary for the public service. In the meantime, he should be tried without   being prejudged.  The removal, as it is called, of Mr. Goodrich, forms another subject of complaint.   Declarations by myself in favor of political tolerance, exhortations to harmony   and affection in social intercourse, and to respect for the equal rights of   the minority, have, on certain occasions, been quoted &amp; misconstrued into   assurances that the tenure of offices was to be undisturbed. But could candor   apply such a construction? It is not indeed in the remonstrance that we find   it; but it leads to the explanations which that calls for. When it is considered,   that during the late administration, those who were not of a particular sect   of politics were excluded from all office; when, by a steady pursuit of this   measure, nearly the whole offices of the U S were monopolized by that sect;   when the public sentiment at length declared itself, and burst open the doors   of honor and confidence to those whose opinions they more approved, was it to   be imagined that this monopoly of office was still to be continued in the hands   of the minority? Does it violate their equal rights, to assert some rights in   the majority also? Is it political intolerance to claim a proportionate share   in the direction of the public affairs? Can they not harmonize in society unless   they have everything in their own hands? If the will of the nation, manifested by their various elections, calls for an   administration of government according with the opinions of those elected; if,   for the fulfilment of that will, displacements are necessary, with whom can   they so justly begin as with persons appointed in the last moments of an administration,   not for its own aid, but to begin a career at the same time with their successors,   by whom they had never been approved, and who could scarcely expect from them   a cordial cooperation? Mr. Goodrich was one of these. Was it proper for him   to place himself in office, without knowing whether those whose agent he was   to be would have confidence in his agency? Can the preference of another, as   the successor to Mr. Austin, be candidly called a removal of Mr. Goodrich? If   a due participation of office is a matter of right, how are vacancies to be   obtained? Those by death are few; by resignation, none. Can any other mode than   that of removal be proposed? This is a painful office; but it is made my duty,   and I meet it as such. I proceed in the operation with deliberation &amp; inquiry,   that it may injure the best men least, and effect the purposes of justice &amp;   public utility with the least private distress; that it may be thrown, as much   as possible, on delinquency, on oppression, on intolerance, on incompetence,   on ante-revolutionary adherence to our enemies.  The remonstrance laments &quot;that a change in the administration must produce   a change in the subordinate officers;&quot; in other words, that it should be   deemed necessary for all officers to think with their principal. But on whom   does this imputation bear? On those who have excluded from office every shade   of opinion which was not theirs? Or on those who have been so excluded? lament   sincerely that unessential differences of political opinion should ever have   been deemed sufficient to interdict half the society from the rights and the   blessings of self-government, to proscribe them as characters unworthy of every   trust. It would have been to me a circumstance of great relief, had I found   a moderate participation of office in the hands of the majority. I would gladly   have left to time and accident to raise them to their just share. But their   total exclusion calls for prompter correctives. shall correct the procedure;   but that done, disdain to follow it,   shall return with joy to that state of things, when the only questions concerning   a candidate shall be, is he honest? Is he capable? Is he faithful to the Constitution?  I tender you the homage of my high respect.