Personal

United States Legation

Constantinople.

April 10^th 1877

Dear Sir,

It is not often that I write to people about what is their business & not mine. My doing so in this instance, I beg you to believe, is not prompted by interested motives & I hope not by an officious spirit of intermeddling–

The papers just received inform that you have been nominated & after much opposition appointed Marshal of the District of Columbia; & that Mr. Alexander is

one of your secretaries & Mr. Williams your principal deputy.—Mr. Phillips, who I believe has practically conducted the office for many years, having declined to serve under you. Assuming these things all to be so, & knowing how much depends upon your success or failure, I venture a few suggestions which I beg you to take for no more than they are worth. Gratuitous advice is cheap & generally of little value.

I foresee for you a hard path. There will be many who watch for your halting & if you make a misstep will be sure to take advantage of it—The pecuniary responsibility of the office is great & errors, however unintentional, may be ruinous. This, of course, you understand.

Mr. Alexander, I know only by reputation. I hope his apparent friendship will prove to be real & that he will aid you in good faith & effectually. Mr. Williams I have known for many years, as a clerk under Mr. Meigs who always spoke of him in the highest terms. He will be your main dependance & if he shall be as successful in discharging the executive functions of Marshal as he has been in the subordinate duties of the clerk's office, the selection will have been most fortunate.

I hope by this time you have made the acquaintance of Mr. Meigs both father & son. The former is an old Tennessee acquaintance. Then for years he stood at the house of the bar, by a long

distance, the first lawyer in the state. A more honest man does not live. His life-long sympathies will incline him to assist you to the utmost of his power–Provided his assistance is asked. He will not, like me, volunteer to give it. The judges, I doubt not, will aid you as much as their official position will allow. They must, of course, declare the law, hurt whom it may.

Your success or failure, either, will be an unanswerable argument for or against your own, hence my anxiety & best wishes on your behalf & hence these lines from the far-off East.

Please present me kindly to Messrs Meigs & to Mr. Williams

I am very Respectfully, Your Obt. Servt.

Horace MaynardMaynard, Horace