Dear Sir,—In acknowledging your letter of the 18th ultimo, and accepting the appointment your Directors have been good enough to confer on me, I beg you will convey to them the expression of my full appreciation of the confidence reposed in me, and my assurance that nothing shall be wanting on my part to entitle me to maintain it.

By the next steamer I hope to advise you when I can promise to join the service, and no long interval will elapse. I shall leave my family here while making arrangements for their reception, sending or returning for them as may suit the convenience of the Company.

I feel certain, from the generous tone of the correspondence read to me by Mr. Stewart, that I shall, in the agreement to be entered into, be fairly treated, and the Directors may depend on my hearty and active zeal and interest in promoting and conserving the interests confided to my direction and management.