ought at that time, would not be
less than seventy-five regiments, and this, with the necessary staff,
would give to him the appointment of nearly two thousand officers
without disturbing the commissions of those already in the regular
service. A like increase was expected in the naval establishment.
The internal-revenue system, devised for the support of the war, was
all-pervasive in its character, and required for its administration a
great number of officers and agents, all removable and appointable at
the pleasure of the Executive. The customs' service was
correspondingly large, having grown immensely during the war. In
proportion to the population of the country there never had been,
there has never since been, and perhaps there will never again be,
so vast an official patronage placed at the absolute disposal of the
President.

Public opinion, which has in later years tended to restrain the
Executive Department from the personal use of the patronage of the
Government, did not at that time exert a perceptible influence in this
direction. The maxim originating with William L. Marcy, but frequently
attributed to President Jackson, that "to the victor belong the
spoils," was then held in full honor; and though it was deprecated by
many and openly opposed in Congress by a few, it was acquiesced in by
the vast majority and was the rule and practice of the National
Administration. The patronage placed a formidable weapon in the hands
of the President which could be so used as to annoy or help every
Republican representative in Congress,--so used, indeed, as to prevent
the election of many who were peculiarly offensive to Mr. Johnson. He
had been reared in the Democratic school of proscription, and had
measured the force and indulged in the use of patronage throughout all
his political life in Tennessee. Though a man of the strictest
personal integrity, he had apparently no scruples on this subject, but
believed that the patronage of the Government might be honestly used to
build up his own political power. When he entered political life he
imbibed this doctrine from the teachings of President Jackson; he
afterwards received its advantage under Van Buren; he aided in its
enforcement under Polk; and when a senator, during the Administration
of Buchanan, he witnessed its prodigious power in the overthrow of
Douglas as a Presidential candidate, though a large majority of the
rank and file of his party desired his no