Note 63 — VI. GEORGE WASHINGTON, PRESIDENT.

Never did a magistrate exercise power entrusted to him, with stricter fidelity than Washington. In respect to appointments to and removals from office, no man could be more conscientious. Private friendship exerted no influence, where the public good could not be subserved. A lofty patriotism swayed him. Even the enemies of Washington—they were never many—but the few who, at length, opposed the measures of his administration, had no occasion to censure him for conferring office on men whose only claim was friendship, or political affinity to the president. The following anecdote will serve to illustrate the integrity of the first chief magistrate of the union—happy had it been for the country, and for the honor and reputation of some of his successors in that exalted office, had they followed, in this respect, the "footsteps of an illustrious predecessor."