PAPERS OF lfmADEAU BuoNAPARTE LA11UR 275 If the power of appointment is vested in the Secretary of War.- I am satisfied- I have been induced to take this step from a sense of duty I owe to myself and the respect I entertain for those admirers to whom I had the honor of giving Your Excellency in furtherance of my pre- tensions · An answer to the foregoing will be thankfully received by your Excellency's Very Obt. Svt THOlIAS PR.A.TT [Addressed:] To His Excellencys M B Lamar- President Rep. Texas. Houston · [Endorsed:] Capt Pratt 17th. Apl- Houston Interrogatories &c No. 1209. TIMOTHY SWIFT TO LA11AR City of New Orleans 18th Aple A. D. 1839 His Excellency MIRABEAU B. LAMAR DEAR GENERAL I take the liberty of Recommending to your Excellency, and the Department of Navy, as Candidate for a Naval appointment,-an ap- plicant that I have no doubt, should he be successful would give entire Satisfaction to the De'[)Q,rtment, and Sure I am that he wotLld be an honor to our little Fleets. Lieu. George H. Rankin, of the British [Navy] is the applicant re- ferred to. He is now on furlough and stopping transiently in this City. He has received a very highly accomplished Naval Education,- been nine years in active Service on an East India. Station, and gone through all the Discipline, and passed the ordeal of Examination be- fore a "British Board of Examiners," and at the age of Eighteen re- ceived the appointment of 3rd Brevet Lieu on Board a Ship of which he has been for six years. In fact were Testimonials wanting to prove his capacity as a Naval Officer, Lieu Ra- could fill one of the Beaureaus of the Department with Credentials from the highest authorities. . In addition to his accomplishments as a Navigator and an Officer, he is an Excellent :Marine Surveyor whilst in the British Service, lying in the Harbour of l\ladras for his own pastime he made a Survey of the harbour (l\ladras), which Survey he presented after its accom- plishment to the Captain of the ship to which he belonged, which was forwarded by the Capt. to the AdmiraUy accompanied by a letter from the Capt, Stating that it was the most accurate Sur-vey of the Harbour of l\Iadras that had ever been made; for this the Admiralty forwarded to Lieu Rankin £300.00 as a present for his Enterprize. This simple statement will suffice to show your Exce11ency, that he is young man of no ordinary pretensions. And it is only the wish thnt our Navy may be commanded by Scientific and efficient men; meu, who hring with them weight of Cha.racter and Nautical Experience and skill that ind~1ces me to make this communication, although Lieu. R. seems Yery anxious to plant himself in Texas aud I shall be very happy in having been instrumental in the slightest degree, in furnishing our country so good a Citizen.
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