254
TEXAS STATE LIBRARY
No. 1090. P. 0. LUMPKIN TO LAMAR
Fort Houston [Texas] Freb 24th 1839
Hi:; excellency ~r. B. L.111rAR DEAR Srn
Conscious as I am of no particular claims to the favorable consid- eration of your Excellency-with no powerful or influential friends to aid and sustain me by their recommendation & assistance-and having already declined an offer of considerable honor Responsibility & profit which had been (gratuitously) confered upon me by your kindness & partiality It is with great -diffidence not unmingled with painful doubts of the propriety of the same- That I have prevailed upon myself-to call your attention to a certain appointment which I perceive by an examination of the laws passed at the last Session of congress is within your gift- The appointment to which I allude is that of government agent-in the Surveying & disposition of the property at the place selected by the government commissioners as the future Location of the Seat of Government of this Republic. This Sir is an office of honor Responsibility & prqfit-one which I know will be anxiously & industriously sought by 1Iw111.y I nm also well aware that you have many perso-na.l & political friends-equally as well qualified as myself-to discharge the duties of this appointment- under these circumstances I scarcely know how to excuse (even to my own mind) the hint to your excellency that I should be pleased & grat- ified to receive the appointment-it is however an old adage but never- theless a true one that "drowning men will catch at straws-but knowing your generous pariotic & disinterested spirit-Knowing too that from the commencement of our country's struggle that I have ever been Rea.dy-and the principal part of the time actively engaged in her Service-and having exhausted the major part of my limited means for her good-aware also that you were acquainted with the fact that those with whom I was connected in our father Land is such as to Reflect no dishonor upon me-and hoping that my own conduct both here & else- where has heen such as to bring no Reproach upon them-and in addi- tion to this the duties of the office being plain and simple-and such as I hope without rnnity you think me capable to discharge-I have been induced to mention the subject for your consideration- I name these things not with a Yicw to establish a claim-but merely to plead my apology (if it should be necessary) in yom· mind for the comse I have taken 1f it i-hould ;;:o happen that my Request is complyed-you will confer a Last favor & benefit upon (I hope) an honest mnu-and a worthLv] little famil_v who ha,·e once seen hetter days- If you should rletermii·1e othrrwif:r T i::hnll be fulh· satisfil'd that whateYer you do in the cnsl' "ll'ill be l.'ighl" · · .-\ff Pr Rl'arli11g- thi,: lc•tfl'r you ,rill pll•n;;:e de~trny it-as I am cxtreml'l~· a\'C•r;;:1• ro LPing gl'!ierally known as a begar urn for office
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