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TEXAS STATE LIBRARY
No. 1864 1840 Auq. 18, J. R. JONES, POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, AUS- TIN, [TEXAS] TO M. B. LAMAR, [AUSTINJ 8 ~ Post Office Department Austin City 18th Augt 1840 His Excellency Mirabeau B. Lamar Sir Your "surprise" at the recent appointment of chief clerk in this Department can not be greater than my own on reading a com- munication dated 15th inst 85 which I had the honor to receive from your Excellency through the City Post Office, late the following evening, expressing your disapprobation of the appoint[men]t & that you did "not entertain a doubt that I would fo[rthw]ith "remove the present incumbent from office." As the Post Master General is neither a member of the Cabinet nor Committee appointed to investigate the charges said to have been pre- ferred some four months since against the officer alluded to as chief clerk to the Treasurer- he could not reasonably be supposed to know the character of those charges how far they have been sustained or that the examination had in any degree evinced a departure from official duty. Immediately after my return from Galveston which city I visited on business of importance connected with this Department l\lr John E. Jones who was then chief clerk resigned & from the great amount of business which had accumulated during my ubsence prolonged first by not meeting the Steam ship Columbia as was expected secondly by sud- den illness before my return to Austin it became indispensably neces- sary quickly to supply the vacancy. The present incumbent was the first applicant upon enquiry I was informed by a merchant of this City of undoubted character & standing that he was a good book-keeper & as he believed of unsullied integrity-other citizens equally respectable & of acknowledged judgment & honesty spoke no less favorably of his moral and business qualifications- Unacquainted with any other per- son of known competency and willing to accept the dation and as there was too much business in the Department requiring instant attention to allow any delay the appointment was made with the firm conviction that it was highly necessary to the due administration of this branch of executive authority. It may not be irrelevant to add that I am with other citizens of Austin securities to this officers bond as Treasurer to the City Corporation an important trust confided to him by the intelli- gent & patriotic members of the City Council, anrl that a gentleman favorably known & highly esteemed by your Excellency as a friend is one of his securities as Treasurer also of Travis County. As chief clerk of this Department he has thus far ·shown h[ims]elf competent and worthy of the charge & I am satisfied that n[eith]er the
".A. L. S. See also nos. 1861, 1866, 1873, 1876-7 and l!ll2. "No. 1861.
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