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PAPERS OF :MIRABEAU BuoNAPARTE LAMAR
public nor myself will suffer by his continuance in office more especially as the vacancy arising from his removal may be with difficulty supplied. There may be and doubtless are young gentlemen fully adequate to a proper discharge of the duties pertaining to this office, hut who they are- whether known or unknown to me and above all whether the dis- position, merits and qualifications of the person most: acceptable to your Excellency would accord with my own feelings and judgment may be justly considered problematical. The gentlemen who are sureties in my official bond are distinguished no less for their talents than the service they have rendered the country- They are among the earliest settlers of Texas and possess ample property to meet the penalty: and should I so far forget their responsibility and the character of this Department as to employ a faithless & defaulting subordinate still the public will be secure from injury. But the chief clerk of the General Post Office were he so inclined cannot ( as your Excellency may doubt- less recollect under the law misuse the public money except to a very limited extent- By reference to the last clause in the first section of the Post office law 86 - which I have the honor again to inclose to your Excellency it will be seen that he is not in my absence the acting Post Master General and can become so only in case of my "death resigna- tion or removal from office"- He cannot in my absence draw upon the Treasurer for any amoimt, and I would respectfully st1:te to :vour Excellency that it is believed the head & perhaps other officers of that Department have so understood the law & have acted accordingly; so that the small sum remitted by the Post Masters in their quarterly re- turns is all that can be misemployed by the officer in question. I cannot suppose that your Excellency will expect much less require my official conduct to he regulated in any degree by the vague and con- flicting rumors which are propagated by the enemies & repelled by the friends of humble as well as high public fu [ncti] onaries yet should the inquiry instituted & conducted by [high]er authority convict my chief clerk of fraud dishonesty or malfeasance in his former office then a due sense of the rectitude & dignity which should mark every branch of public administration will impell me at once to dismiss him from his present station: and I trust shall ever be prompt as the President him- self in the punishment of ·guilt when & wheresoever it is proved to exist. In conclusion allow me to remark that in accepting the appointment to which I had the honor of being nominated by your Excellency my fixed resolution to which I have pertinaceously adhered was to avoid any participation in politcial or party strife & studiously to devote my time & humble abilities to the best interest of the country so far at least as a well regulated mail establishment can further it. To do so I have labored arduously & not I trust without some success- when this important object shall be accomplished I shall be most happy to return again to the lighter cares of a private citizen.
I have the honor to be Respectfully Your obdt Servt Jno Rice Jones
[Endorsed]
Jno Rice Jones. P. l\L G. Aug 18, 1840-
Post Master Genl
"Printed in Gammel, H. P. N., Laws of Texm, I, 1226.
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