The agency I had in obtaining the assent of Mr Sutherland to his nomination for the Senate together with my respect for his talents & regard for his virtue induce me ^make it my duty^ to write you on the subject of his appointment to a judicial office under your administration ^and respect for his talents & regard for his private virtues induce me to discharge it with much pleasure^. When Mr Sutherland was induced ^prevailed upon^ to consent to stand <illegible> <candidate> ^run^ for the Senate it was under a belief that his election was doubtful if not ^very^ improbable & that his name would be of service to us the <above> ^in making a strong ticket for the center of the State & thinking setting an example you of the material so of which we thought the new Senate ought to be composed^. It was however accompanied with a distinct Statemnt to the convention that if he should happen to be elected he would decline if he could obtain the appointment he now desires. On subsequent reflection he is induced to think that it would not be proper in him to retain the right of taking his seat in the Senate in the event of his disappointment & he has with the approbation of his friends determined to decline at all events. Under those circumstances he is presented to you as a candidate for the appointmnt of one of the Judges of the S. Court if those places or any one of them are vacated according to the provisions of the new Constitution. In such event I take the liberty of recommending Mr Sutherland to you as a gentleman eminently qualified for the Station on the score of talents and richly deserving your confidence and the support & protection of the Republican party. The unreserved manner in which I expressed my opinion of him to you & the intimate knowledge you have of his character supercede the necessity of my going into particulars, suffice it therefore for me to say that I have a thorough conviction that you never will have occasion to regret the adoption of the measure I propose.

I have also to express my fervent hope that something will be done for our good friend Wm A Duer suitable to his merits. He is certainly well qualified for any judicial Station in our courts of common law & well deserving our support & encouragement & such I believe to be the opinion of a very great proportion of our Republican friends. I know your friendship for him to be as great & as ardent as I avow mine to be & that therefore ino additional inducements can be necessary to secure for him all the aid you can with propriety extend to him. Cantine finds the station he occupies insufficient for the support of his family & is desirous of changing it for something better. He is on friendly & I trust confidential terms with you & will explain to you in person his views & wishes. The relation in which I stand to him precludes the necessity of my saying how much I have his success at heart. What is done for him I regard as done for myself. Having now done with what relates to others I will detain you by a few words in relation to ourselves. Mr. Cantine writes me that a report had reached Albany & which he understood had been communicated to you, that a caucus had been held at Nyork, at which I attended & at which of course was marked out for your adoption & a resolution entered into to oppose your re-election in the event of your declining to pursue it. I was not at all surprised at this as I have long since anticipated that attempts of this description would be resorted to, to excite your jealousies agt. men who deserve & who ought to receive your entire confidence. It is the interest of many who will surround you to kindle & feed such a flame & the bad passions of others will induce them to lend a helping hand. But I sincerely hope for the sake of the party to which, ^we^ belong & the interest of the State of which we are citizens that you will be far above this ^being^ affected of ^by^ such petty contrivances. When I last had the pleasure of seeing you I took occasion to say to you that I felt as strong solicitude for the success of your administration. That I considered the best interests of the State & her influence ^weight^ in the scale of the union materially if not wholly to depend upon it & that as long as I approved your public course I would lend my best efforts to ^aid &^ sustain it. This declaration was induced by motives altogether of a public nature found <illegible> as it respects ^except^ the common interest of every citizen wholly dis^in^terested, for you cannot but know that there is nothing that can be done by you for me personally ^of^ which in the way of office of which I could accept. The declaration was as sincere as it was disinterested & as the conduct indicated by the report of which I speak would be inconsistent with that course those professions & therefore discreditable it is not necessary that I should say that the report is in all respects false. The little time which I had in NY. with our friends was on the contrary employed in bespeaking their indulgence by impressing you them with the delicacy & difficulty of your station^it^uation. Once for all let me have your assure you that when I become dissatisfyed with your conduct & think it ought to be opposed that you will not be kept in the dark as to the state of my feelings but that they will be as unreservedly expressed as they will I trust be honestly entertained. Untill then you will I hope spurn all insinuation which may be made to you ^to any of unfriendly feelings on my part towards you^ as equally unjust to me & injurious if listened to injurious to yourself.