New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1857-10-29
FROM WASHINGTON.
From Oar Own Correspondent

lew days ego was edlned Dy Perusiug IN lhs
Union newspaper a biographical sketch Of Mr..
Jacob ThompsCn, "the present allie, accomplished
"spd popular Secretary Of the Interior Depart
"msnt" / learned with q due degree Of interest
and admiration, that Mr.. Thompson is native Of
North Carolina that he was BORN in 1916 that his
father was an excellent and respectable man; that
bis early education was conducted by Mr. Bing-
ham, that he graduated with distinguished honors
at the University Of North Carolina; that ION the
"same day on which be gradusted he was elected
"by the Trustees and Faculty tutor Of the College,
"where, for eighteen months, be strengthened and
"deepened the foundations OF knowledge already
"laid;" that he studied law, migrated to Missis-
sippi snd enteItd at once into an extensive and
lucrative practices was elected TO Congress 10 1889
and served in that body continuously until 1851,
when be declined reelection in order ~ attend to
his private affairs which he did with such success that
he is now one Of the wedthest men ia Slisslsslppi.
After stating these facts in Mr.. ThOmpsOns lille, the
bograpber declares that on all occasions he proved
himself Democrat of the straitest sect-the deter
mined foe of all corruptiOIs ntrgues, the constant
advocate Of truth and justice the liberal aud patriotic
ttatesnan; and adds, that the zeal, prOmptness
"aid Justice with which the heavy amount OF
" duty devOviDg bis Department is dispatched,
is alike to the satisfaction and admiration OF all
who have business before it, nc. In his private
" intercourse" concludes the biograpber, Ibis
manners are characterized by the same charming
simplicity that has characterized his life, and has
"won for BIN such troops of friends. He is one
"of the few men, said an old friend Of his boyho0d,
"who recently visited Washington, that high Office
" has not affected. He s the same Jake Thomp-
" son knew at Chapel Hill
Irepret TO say that the satisfaction have felt ID
COZ templatpg this amiabe portraiturs of the dis
trguished Secretary with " The charming sim
plicity Of msnners-the same Jake Thompson
q" that knew 1T Chapel Hill has been good
deal disturbed by the consideration Of certain re-
cent proceedings of bis in relation to the Patent
Office, which is uLder the control Of the Depart
men, of the Interior. The Patent Office, from its
foundation to the present time, has been regarded by
all rites as an institution altogether unpOltica in
its nature and no changes have therefore been
made in its organization for partisan reasOns-no re-
moyals having occurred except for cal The
Office sustsins itself by fees and is not dependent on
the Treasury for support. The gentlemen Connect
ed with it, generally speaking, are not mere clerks,
performing functions which any clever man who
writes good hand can perform as well as another,
but they are many of them men of science and pecu-
liar skill the depOsitares Of vast accumulation OF
upwritten learning Of rare and valuable knowledge
ACQUIRED in the experience Of the office, and not to
be gained in any other manner. The services OF
these men are Of the greatest Importance to the
public, for their fathulness and competency in
terests of immense magnitude are continually de.
pending. The skill of theExaminsrs in the Patent
Office Is the chief security which the holders Of val
u.bIo potcnts nave against that iegalzed infringe
ment which unprinciped rivals are constantly
mining TO accomplish, and which, when once
sanctioned ty patent, however Improperly granted,
CAM ut be recalled for fourteen years.
Nv Sacretarv IhOmDeQl he has been IN
the Csbf et has strepuousy endeavOred to get con-
troll of the official situations in the Patent Office,
with view of augmentiDg the patronage OF his own
Department, and of providing or hts political
friends. He endeayored to induce MIR. Commits
.iouer Mason to remove several of the employees,
who were suspected of RepubIcsDsm, principally,
believe, because they had refused ~ be assessed
for the benefit of the Democratic party. They
would not pay the percentage on their salaries
which WAS claimed by the Democratic managers.
Mr.. Mason refused to make the removals
which were demanded of him. He was
pressed, again ard again, on the subject Finally,
be appealed ~ Mr.. Buchanan, and threatened 10
reSen if the removals were insisted on. They were
insisted on and Mr.. Mason resigned some tine
last month. His successor, Mr.. Holt is OF more
sexbe atuf and soon after his Inauguration he sent
In two of the principal Examiners notices mat,
"bv direction of the Secretary Of the Interior,
The Patent Office no longer needed their services.
DIR. l.. D. Gale, the Chemical Examiner, was
one C the gentlemen thus dismissed from the publc
service by MIR. Thompson. for no fault except THAI
Of being suspected Of holding opinions on Slavery
not in con.oDance with Mr.. Thompsons Mississippi
standard of orthodoxy. DR.. Gale was for ten years
Professor of Chemistry i'll the University OF New
York, and has been for nearly eleven years Exam
iper Of Patents in the Patent Office, during which
time lie has acted upon and decided upward OF 4,ooV
applicatiOns in the various branches Of applied
chemistry, agriculture, medicine, surgery, &c. He
| is familiar with all the patents that have been
granted ON these subjects in the United States from
the organizations of the PateDt Once to the pres
ept time, and is therefore master OF mass
| of knowledge of almost daily application
in the Patent Office which new cemer could only
acquire by years Of patient observation ana study.
That patriotic regard for the public welfare which
| charscterizes Mr.. Thompson, according to this
| biographer should have made him unwilling to
desecIate bis power by depriviDg the Patent Office
of a man, the value Of whose services can hardly be
| oyer-estimated DR. Gale was removed to make
| way for a partisan whose Democracy" cannot be
| questioned but whose science, if he has any, was
imbbed while pursuing his avccaton as tavern
keeper Of Norfolk. The other principal Examiner
| who has been removed ON the ground of Republl-
| canism, is Mr. Jonathan II. Lane, who has been in
| the Office nine o. ten years.
TIE Patent Office can doubtless get along without
the services of DR.. Gale and Mr.. Lane, though the
inventors who rely its wisdom and justice for the
protection of their property run no considerable
risk from the inexperience of the new incumbents.
But the great fault which Mr. Secretary Thompson
has committed, and grave one it is, is the intro
ducton into the Patent Office of the mischievous
| policy of removals for partisan purposes policy
which, if carried out, as ii is now likely to be- will
| end in the degradation and ruin of the office. Its
functions are of too delicate nature TO bear tam
| peripg with in such manner.
Major Emory was brought before magistrate this
1 L ~ 81 20