1

Columbia, Tennessee,
13^th August 1818

Dear Sir

It is now ascertained here through a
channel of information which admits of no ground
for hope that our common friend M^r Alexander is
dead: He was my friend effectively, he was your
friend to a greater extent perhaps than you had an
opportunity of knowing, especially in these latter days
of management and design

If the selection of a successor is not yet
made it is an appointment in which I would act
with pleasure, I was led to think on the subject some
time ago upon a contingency much less to be regretted
than that by which the office is now vacant. I beg
of you, however, not to suffer my wishes to interfere
with any positive view which you may already have in
favour of any other person: My friends and myself
know how to appreciate, and to acquiesce in these things.
I am induced to make the application now from a full