1From James Madison to John Rodgers, 24 November 1814 (Madison Papers)
The present Secretary of the Navy being about to retire into private life, my thoughts are turned on you for his Successor. But before I make the nomination to the Senate, it will be agreeable to me, & proper in every respect, that I should have your sanction to it. Will you be so good as to satisfy me on this point? And as Mr. Jones’ affairs will not, I find, permit him to remain in the Dept....
2From James Madison to John Rodgers, 4 December 1814 (Madison Papers)
I have duly recd. yours of the 29th. Ult. The wishes conveyed in mine which it answers, are far from being lessened by a diffidence of yourself, in which I can not participate. But I regret to find an insuperable obstacle to them, in your repugnance to exchange your present Commission for the one I had contemplated, & the legal incompatibility between them, according to an official exposition...