"You will not doubt my high estimate of your abilities and your character, or of the strong personal regard I feel for you. "I do not know to what extent or in what cases, if any, I shall be consulted by Mr. Cleveland in respect to the constitution of his cabinet. I do not intend to intrude upon him any advice unasked, or to volunteer any recommendations or requests. "If consulted I shall not act as a partisan of any of my numerous friends who would like to enter his cabinet, but shall endeavor, with judicial impartiality, to canvass the personal merits and other considerations which ought to influence the choice. "I am anxious that he should do the best thing possible for the country and for his administration, and shall desire rather to help him in his official task than to add to his embarrassments. "The formation of a cabinet is a piece of mosaic in which each element may be affected by the size, texture, and color of the others entering into the combination; and it is impossible to foresee how much an individual element may be affected by the cast of the whole. "In the event that you should be wanted for some other post than the one you prefer, do you mean to say that you have an invincible repugnance to every other post, even though not inferior in dignity or importance? "Very truly yours, "S. J. TILDEN." GEORGE HOADLY TO TILDEN "EXECUTIVE CHAMBER, COLUMBUS, O., _December 13, 1884_. "MY DEAR SIR,--Your letter of the 5th inst. was received in due course of mail, and I embrace the first opportunity to reply. "While my ambition, and I think my qualifications, for public service are in the line of my profession, I should not feel at liberty to refuse any duty consistent with my personal dignity and self-respect which the President might assign me. I am well aware that he must have a wider survey of the situation than I can have, and that he must bear the chief responsibility of failure. As I said in my former letter, I am too good a soldier not to take orders cheerfully and obey them ungrudgingly. "My dear Mr. Tilden, if I had had the least doubt of your esteem and regard I should not have written you as I did or as I do.