said, and if they
lack materials they will tell you, if they find that you
like to listen to small things, a great deal that never has
been said. It is my deliberate opinion that these
mischievous gossips cause public men more vexation, yes, ten
fold, than all the cares & anxieties of office taken
together. I have seen perhaps as much of this as any man of
my age, & claim to be a competent judge of the evil & its
remedies. The greatest fault I ever saw in our excellent
friend Gen^l. Jackson, was the facility with which (in
carrying out his general principle that it was the duty of
the President to hear all) he leant his ear, though not his
confidence, to such people. Though very sagacious & very apt
to put the right construction upon all such revelations, it
was still evident that he was every day more or less annoyed
by them. I endeavored to satisfy him of the expediency of
shutting their mouths, but did not succeed, & I am as sure
as I can be of any such thing that if the truth could be
known it would appear that he had experienced more annoyance
from such sources than from all the severe trials through
which he had to pass & did pass with such unfading glory.
Having his case before me, I determined to profit by the
experience I had acquired in so good a school. I had no
sooner taken possession of the White House than I was beset
by these harpies. The way in which I treated the whole crew,
with variations of course according to circumstances, will
appear from the following dialogue in a single case. The
celebrated Dr. Mayo called upon me & in his stuttering &
mysterious way commenced by asking when he could have a few
minutes very private conversation with me. Knowing the man,
I anticipated his business & told him now, I will hear you
now. He then told me he had discovered a conspiracy to
destroy me politically the particulars of which he felt it
to be his duty to lay before [me]. I replied instantly, &
somewhat sternly, Dr., I do not wish to hear them. I have
irrefragable proof, he replied. I don't care, was the
response. It is in writing, Sir, said he. I won't look at
it, Sir. What, said he, don't you want to see it if it is in
writing & genuine? An emphatic No, Sir, closed the
conversation. The Dr. raised his eyes and han