"MY DEAR SIR,--May I trespass upon your attention, briefly, in behalf of a literary undertaking in which I think you will feel an interest? The facts are these: Mrs. Charlotte M. Clarke, who has won a very decided success as a novelist while writing under a pseudonym, has now in press a novel of a good deal more than ordinary breadth and power, in which she treats the social and political history of this country during the period immediately preceding the late war and later. It is now her purpose to carry the review forward in another novel to be entitled _The Theft of an Empire_, and to concern itself with the events of 1876. "From the character of the work now in press, which I have had occasion to read in proof, I am satisfied that in the hands of this writer the story of the election frauds of 1876 will have such a dramatic setting forth as will command respect and attention in quarters where the facts are now misconstrued. I need not suggest to you the potency of fiction to impress truths of this nature upon minds which receive such truths in no other way, but I may assure you that I know of no author likely to make so effective use of this material as Mrs. Clarke. "The lady already has possession of very valuable materials, and in making further collections she will have the active assistance of some of the most prominent editors and public men of the country, who are her friends; but she is especially anxious to get possession of certain facts which you can doubtless furnish at once, but which it would be difficult to get elsewhere. In her eagerness to get full and accurate information for this purpose, she asks the privilege of an interview with you at your own convenience, and my own interest in the due performance of this necessary work induces me to make this request for her. With respect to myself, and the sincerity of my interest in the establishment of historic truth in this connection, I beg to refer you to my friend Mr. Parke Godwin, under whom I served upon the editorial staff of the _Evening Post_. "Mrs. Clarke is staying for a few days at the Hotel Branting, Madison Avenue and Fifty-eighth Street, and, if you are willing to grant her request for a brief interview, she will call upon you at any time you may name, and will trespass as little as may be upon your time. "Very respectfully, your obt. servant, "GEO. CARY EGGLESTON." D. B. HILL TO TILDEN "MAYOR'S OFFICE, ELMIRA, N. Y., _Sept. 2, 1882_. "HON. SAMUEL J. TILDEN.