1. JM’s remarks suggest that he had read a 6 July 1816 letter written by New York district court judge William P. Van Ness to his brother John P. Van Ness (DNA: RG 59, LAR, 1809–17, filed under “Morris”), stating the case for an interim appointment to the recently vacant position of marshal for New York. The judge pointed out that the position had always been filled by “gentlemen of respectability & high standing” and that an appointment should be made while he still sat on the bench. He acknowledged that there were many candidates who were doubtless respectable, but they were also attached “to every faction in the [Republican] party” and that the appointment of any one of them would “necessarily produce some clamour among the remainder.” On that account Van Ness recommended Thomas Morris for the position because he had “not interferred with the divisions and conflicts of the republican party, but has devoted himself to the support of its principles, and of the administration generally.” His selection would “afford the least hazard of complaint.” Van Ness wished that the Secretary of State and the President be informed of these views, and John P. Van Ness forwarded his letter to Monroe on 9 July 1816.