A Virginia Secessionist, And The Postmaster General

[Fronl the VTasbing'-m SUtoi. The following letter on a matter of considerable interest, was written in reply to certain intirrogatories put by Hon. Mr. Jenkins, a Representative from Virginia, to the Postraa3ter General. Tho letter is olear, dignified, and patriotic. The Poatmastor General ia cordial and considérate towards his correspondent, nt the (ame time that he is emphatic in tho rule kid down for his official guidarjea. He puts the case, too, so simplyandso gtrong that no impartial man chb posaibly object to his coarae. It m;iy bo proper to say, that hearing suoh a correspondence had taken place, wo rcquested permissiou to copy Mr. King's letter, conceiving all such docaments as illuatrativa of the history of the times : Post Office Department, Feb. 22. Duar Sir: Your letter of the 2Oth instant is reoeived, requesting " distinct and specific answers" to the following interrogatorios, viz : 1. What are the groundn of the removal of Thoma J West, late roate agent on the line f rom Grafton to Parkersburg, Va., and of the substitution of another person in his place ? 2. Why ia it that these proeeedinga have been earried oat on my part without affbrding you any inforraation of my contetnplated aetion ? 3. Upon whoae suggestion I was led to remove Mr. West, and by whoso reoommendations I was indueed to appoint his suecessor ? 4. And, finally, whether the same policy of seoretly decapitating your friendo is tobo actod upon hcreafter as the sett!ed rule of the Department ? These are plain questiona, sfcated nerly in your owa language, and ín view of the eustom which, f jr a number of years, has prevaüed in the Department, of consulting mcmbcrs of Congrega in regard to appointmouts and remováis io their respective districts, it is not unnatural, and, porhaps, not uurensonablo, that you should ask them. But you will excuse me for remarking. in all khiduess, that, in the. first place, it ia coftrary to the rale of the Departine.it to coinmunicat written answers to sucb hiquiries ; and, secoudly, that the right whieh you aeem ' to claim of coutrolliug the appointmanN in your district has no eajstonea in fact. j Excepting the comparatirely few cases in which the law imposes this duty on the President and Senate, the power of ap! pointing the officera of this Department rests exoluaively with the Postmaster General, who alune is responsable for its propor sereise. By conrtesy the member, when agreeiug politically with tho Adminiatration, is very generally consulted with respect to appointinents in his district; bilt hia ad vico is by no uieans cousidered biading on tho Department ; nor is the Postmaster General prccluded, even by courtesy, from making remováis or appointinents on satisfuctory information, as in the pre3ent instance, exclusivcly from othor reliable sources. When tho i metnber is politically opposed to the Admiuistration, it is not uaual to consult him Ilere I might close, but since you have asked these questioas, eviduntly uadcr an I honest impression that it is my duty to answer them, I will disregard the rule so far as to reply to the first, second, and fourth,sinaply stating, with reforence to tha third, that I respectfully decline giving the namea of the parties by whoso saggestions and rüoommeud;itioua I havo been guided in makiog the ohange. To the first, then, I have to informyou that Mr. West was removed for leaving his roate without permission from the Department, and .actively engaging in a movenent, the avowed objoct of which is to indace the withdrawal of Virginia frora the Uuiou. In othcr wonts, he was disoharged for uudertaking to dftstroy tho Government from whose treasury he was drawing the means of daily subsisteuoe, and wh ose Constitutioa he had solomnly sworn to support. Your second and fourth interrogatorios may be answered togethor. I did not adviae with you, because I had good reason to believe that you were yourself, honestly, I doubt not, fully coimnittod to the secession interest in your State. As to the policy to be pursued in the future toward your friends in office, I eau speak only of what may be done in the fow remaining days of thia Administration ; and I hesitate not to assure you that if, duriag this short time, any other oases Hko the present come before me, I shall esteem it my imperative duty to pursuo the course adopled in this nstmee. This being notstrictly a oificial letter, I may be pardoned fór addiug that I ain for the Union without resorvation, equally against Disunionists at the South atid Aboiitionists at the JS'orth, aud for tho just rights of all seutious in the Union. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obcdient servant, IIORAP.O KlXQ. Ilon. A. G. Jenkins, House of llepreaentutives.