Adam Smith, bureaucrat (part 4)

Here are parts 1 (intro), 2 (Letter #109), and 3 (Letter #112). The next piece of official customs-house correspondence in my sample of Adam Smith letters from 1784-1785 is Letter #118. This letter, which is dated 1 November 1784, is an official administrative order issued by the Board of Customs Commissioners in Scotland and is signed by three of the commissioners: Adam Smith (top signature), Basil Cochrane (middle), and David Reid (bottom). The letter, which deals with a routine personnel matter, reads as follows: “Having in pursuance of a Warrant of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury issued our Commission to Mr. Farquhar Macdonald to be a Landwaiter and Searcher in the room of John Ogilvie Superannuated. And when he has perfected the inclosed Bond with two Sureties (whose sufficiency you are to certify to the Examiner of Officers Securities) you are to admit him to his Employment taking care to administer to him the Oath of Office signifying at the same time that he must also…