Having lately heard, that the appointment of the officers of the federal court will be vested in the judges, I take the liberty of asking your opinion, whether it would be worth my while to solicit the office of attorney in the federal court of this State, and for your advice about the most proper mode of making application. If this office has been thought of by others, my chance may be destroyed, not only by prior candidates, but by superior merit; and in that case it would be both prudent and honest in me to decline. My life will be devoted to the law; and if application to the study of a science to which I am wedded by inclination can render me deserving of this appointment, I shall hope that time will enable me to fill it with advantage to my country. If you think my application improper, or that it will be unavailing, I rely on that friendship, which I have so often experienced, to inform me of it, and the same principle will, I hope, plead for me, for having taken some share of your attention from other more important matters. Whatever steps you may advise, I will readily pursue.