I would certainly go any length for Charley which should seem to me to be just & right & wise; but this present proposition does not take hold of me with a strong grip. If I had good honest reasons for thinking General Garfield ought to improve the prospects of his administration by changing his private secretary, I would might (possibly,) feel justified in doing what little I could to bring about that change; but I do not know Capt. Gordon (is that his name?) at all, much less whether hes is fitted for the his place or not. Then again, that post is not a public office & in the legi list of legitimate political spoils, but is a family office, & the nation has no property in it. Any citizen may make suggestions about changes in consulships etc., but I do not see how any but a personal friend of the President could touch upon the matter of his household staff gracefully. If I should approached the President through a Congressman whom I did not know, with a candidate whose qualifications I knew only from hearsay, to try to displace one of his private servants whom he knows & I don’t, I should feel weak—to put it mildly.

You have looked at this matter from your point of view; you must indulge me with by observing it from mine—as abowve. When I went to work the other day, in the Japanese matter, it was to do what I could to get an able to accomplish the removal of a man who is has great powers & abilities, but is not fitted for his post, & get him replaced by the fittest man in America for that position. I had personal knowledge of both of these large facts—therefore my position was strong. In the present case I really know neither of my men.

Now I am not going to characterize this scheme as (perhaps) it deserves, because you ain’t here to defend it; and besides, I should want to pet you up & smooth down your ruffled feathers & get you good-humored again when I was through; but I will venture to whisper that if Charley had offered a prize for ill advice this scheme would have taken it.

Why, it is simply burying a man for four years!—burying him fathoms deep in obscurity & insignificance. For four years Mr. Rodgers has sat yonder in Hayes’s ante-room, like a footman, taking people’s visitors’ cards & telling them w deciding whether they might go in at once or must cool their heels & wait their turn (he decided the latter in my case, once, dang him,) & what is he now?—who knows him?—what is he good for?—& how much has his long & very peculiar service advanced him? It sums up about as follows:

000,000,000.

But suppose he had been a Washington correspondent those 4 years? Well, it might sum up the same; but that would be the fault of the man, not the fault of his opportunities.

Now you “whirl in,” as Uncle Remus says, & blow me up. It will do you good, & it won’t do me any harm!

The Gerhardt’s sailed for Paris yesterday. Mr. G. will study 5 years in the Beaux Arts, under the great masters, & then he will be a rattling sculptor, or I miss my guess. You knew him, didn’t you?—but of course you did; for the “discovery” of him happened just before Clara Spaulding left. O come back here!—& fetch m Mollie along, & we’ll get up a reasonable scheme. With the loves of all of us,