WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1853
371
party triumph, united with respect for your character, induced me with cheerfulness and sincerity to use all fair and honorable means to secure the election of the democratic nominees to the presidency and vice-presidency. The success was triumphant, and I am happy to congratulate you upon the result. It is natural under present circumstances, that every lover of our institutions and of the Union should feel anxious for the success of your administration. As one, I certainly do, and I doubt not, but you feel duly impressed with all the responsibilities of your position. From what I hear around me in relation to the gentlemen who are to compose your cabinet, I have ground to suppose that various individuals are pressed upon your notice by numerous gentlemen, each claiming for their respective fav- orites, places in your cabinet. These circumstances will most reasonably suggest reflections as to what might be the proper course for a President to pursue in its formation. No one, I presume, will deny a proposition so self-evident, as that the President is to be responsible to the American people for the character and acts of the gentlemen who compose his cabinet. From my observation in life I have come to the conclusion that, as the President is responsible for the action of counselors; the right to select them, independent of all extraneous influences. is a conceeded point. Perhaps one of the most unfortunate political events in Gen- eral Jackson's life, may be traced to the contrary principle. He permitted individuals to be urged upon him, by most respectable influences, and, yielding to that pressure, placed persons in his cabinet, who would not have been selected by his uninfluenced choice. Hence, it was composed of discordant materials, and the consequence was the removal of the members who formed the original cabinet, and the formation of one entirely new, composed of gentlemen of his own selection. In my opinion it is not a reason sufficient to urge the pretensions of gentlemen, because they", possess marked ahility, that tthey have powerful and influential friends or that those friends may desire to obtain for them a commanding position, that they may enjoy a large share of political influence, to induce the Executive to waive his own preference and defer to the wishes of others. The relations between the Executive and his cabinet are of a confidential character. He desires for his confidential advisers those on whom he has unbounded reliance. They ought not only to harmonize touching political subjects, but a personal intimacy
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