This
intimation gave the president no concern." [Footnote: Parton,
Jackson, III., 92; Adams, Memoirs, VII., 154.]
Another illustration of his tenacity in this matter, even in
opposition to the wishes of Henry Clay, was his refusal to remove a
naval officer at New Orleans who had made preparations for a public
demonstration to insult a member of Congress who had assisted in
electing Adams. Clay believed that the administration "should avoid,
on the one hand, political persecution, and, on the other, an
appearance of pusillanimity." But the president refused to remove a
man for an intention not carried into effect, and particularly
because he could frame no general policy applicable to this case
which would not result in a clean sweep. Four-fifths of the custom
officers throughout the Union, he thought, were opposed to his
election. To depart in one case from the rule which he had laid down
against removals would be to expose himself to demands from all
parts of the country. [Footnote: Adams, Memoirs, VI.
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