no more than the office of government secretary be sold; and that this
was understood to be only what the governor should sign in writing;
for in the commissions that the latter should give for those permits
the secretary of the government was not to act as secretary. [_In
the margin_: "As the fiscal says."]

The above is what occurs to me in regard to the increase and efficient
administration of your royal treasury. I shall now declare my opinion
regarding two differences of justice or jurisdiction that have arisen
with the royal officials.



_Fifth point of this letter_


They formerly proposed the clerks whom they employed in their
offices, so that the governor should appoint them at the pay that
was assigned. In consequence of that power that they possessed, the
accountant tried to take it upon himself to dismiss a clerk without any
agreement with his associates, or the consent of the government. In
fact, he abolished the position. I was informed that it was not for
incompetency, or for any failure of which the clerk had been guilty
in his office, but only for the accountant's own private reasons. He
was ordered to return the man to his place, and to have him serve as
before. The accountant alleged with too unmeasured language that he
and his associates had the authority to dismiss the clerks, since they
were the ones who proposed them. I was advised that it would be better
government, in order to avoid the consequences, for the royal officials
not to propose the clerks whom they had to employ in their offices,