PALMYRA, MISS., August 22nd, 1852.
MY DEAR SIR: This is to introduce to you Jno. W. Smith of Washington City and to request your good offices in obtaining for him some appointment about the Capitol or public grounds. I spoke of him to you when I had the honor to be associated with you on the Com[mittee] of public buildings, and we joined in recommending him for the place of watchman on the Capitol grounds, to which he was appointed by the then Commissioners but removed by his successor.
Among the many claims to your consideration of matters of public importance he has very probably been forgotten. I will therefore say something of him to induce you to make further inquiry. He is a Virginian, and his wants led to my acquaintance with him in the winter of 1845. I found him in bad health destitute of means and with a large and helpless family. R. J. Walker gave him temporary employment as a messenger in the Treasury Department. His good conduct secured him continuous employment and would have led to his promotion if the Democracy had remained in power. In anticipation of his dismissal by the Whigs I sought for him the post before mentioned. My acquaintance with him enables me to say he is honest, attentive, and a man of good heart and sincerity of purpose.
I am sure you will never have cause to regret any service you may render him, at least it is my good fortune to remember the assistance I afforded to him and his family with as much satisfaction as I derive from any similar event in my life. It will always give me pleasure to hear from you and to be remembered by you as your sincere friend.
SOURCE: Charles Henry Ambler, Editor, Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1916, in Two Volumes, Vol. II, Correspondence of Robert M. T. Hunter (1826-1876), p. 147
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