In the first, the
qualifications best adapted to uniting the suffrages of the party, will
be more considered than those which fit the person for the station. In
the last, the coalition will commonly turn upon some interested
equivalent: "Give us the man we wish for this office, and you shall have
the one you wish for that." This will be the usual condition of the
bargain. And it will rarely happen that the advancement of the public
service will be the primary object either of party victories or of party
negotiations.
The truth of the principles here advanced seems to have been felt by the
most intelligent of those who have found fault with the provision made,
in this respect, by the convention. They contend that the President
ought solely to have been authorized to make the appointments under the
federal government. But it is easy to show, that every advantage to be
expected from such an arrangement would, in substance, be derived from
the power of nomination, which is proposed to be conferred upon him;
while several disadvantages which might attend the absolute power of
appointment in the hands of that officer would be avoided.
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