"DR. SIR,--I am in receipt of your note on the subject of the retainer of $10,000 paid you by this Co. I can only say that it was understood and treated by the company as a general retainer, and the voucher so states. The only matters I have consulted you in reference to have been A. and G. W. matters. Knowing the pressure of your other engagements, I felt like troubling you as little as possible, and I therefore simply said to Mr. Lane to consult you if necessary, but to trouble you as little as possible. The reason I could not consent to Mr. McHenry giving you a retainer was the fear that his interests and ours would clash, as I did not have confidence in his schemes. "Yours, "JAY GOULD." "P. S.--I shall be happy to meet the other parties on the subject of an arrangement at any time. "J. G." TILDEN--CIRCULAR OF THE STATE COMMITTEE "NEW YORK, _April 15th, 1870_. "MY DEAR SIR,--The election of a chief judge and six associate judges of the Court of Appeals--which will take place on the 17th of May--and the nomination, at the Democratic State Convention to be held at Rochester on the 27th of April, of our candidates for the chief judge and _four_ of the six associate judges, are events of great interest. "The Democratic party has never hitherto failed to supply in the court of last resort judges of undoubted moral and official purity and integrity, who have commanded the confidence and reverence of the whole people, and who have, by their abilities and professional learning, illustrated the jurisprudence of our State and country. "In the present tendency of our times--towards a weakening of the trust of the people in the judiciary--it is more than ever important that we hold our standard of character and qualifications _high_. "A degradation of the administration of justice is the last calamity of a republic. "Distrust or doubt in the public mind as to the administration of justice, even if unfounded, involves half the evils of an actual degradation. "At this moment--when we are about to form our highest court, _entirely anew_, and _for a long period_--it is our duty to give attention to the subject, to withdraw ourselves for a little time from our private avocations in order to fulfil our highest obligations as citizens of a republic. "_First_, special care ought to be exercised that our most _wise_, _discreet_, and _disinterested_ men be chosen to, and be induced to attend, the nominating convention at Rochester on the 27th. "They should come there to confer for the public good, in a spirit of _harmony_, conciliation, and surrender of all personal prejudices and all personal antipathies to the great object of forming _absolutely the best ticket possible_.