Page:The autobiography of a Pennsylvanian.djvu/352

 become an associate justice of the Supreme Court in the manner proposed, you will forfeit a large share of the respect and esteem of the profession and weaken the faith of the people in the disinterested administration of justice.

We do, therefore, most respectfully but earnestly entreat you to reconsider your avowed intention, and to continue to the expiration of your term of office as governor to safeguard and protect the interests of the people of this great commonwealth, to whose honor and welfare we know you are sincerely devoted.

We remain, with great respect and cordial personal regards,
 * Your obedient servants,

Nothing that occurred during my whole term gave me so much pain as this communication. It was a revelation. These gentlemen had seen me tested for fourteen years, and yet, while asserting their favorable experience, were unwilling to trust me to determine a question of professional propriety. They were ready to believe an anonymous correspondent of a partisan sheet and to treat as naught 336