Alabama state intelligencer., 1831-07-23
WASHINGTON CIry, June 14th, 1881

WASHINGTON 1ITY, June HUI. 1891.
 GENTLEMEN--It would afford me much pleasure, could at the same time accept your invitation of the 5th inst and that with which l was before honored by the municipal au- thorties of Charleston. A necessary atten- ton to the duties of my office, must deprive me of the qualification should have had III paying, under such circumstances, visit to the State of which feel a pride in calling my self a citizen by birth.
 Coull l accept your invitation, it would be with the hope that all parties-all the men of talent exalted patrotism, and private worth, who have been divied in the manner you dc scribe, might be found united before the altar of their country, on the day set apart for the solemn celebration of its ndependence-inde- pendence which cannot exist without Union, and with it is eternal.
 Every enlightened citizen must know, that a separation, could it be effected, woul,l begin with civil discord, and end in colonial depen dance On a foreign Power, and obliteraton from the list of nations. But he should also see that high and sacred duties which must and will at all hazards. be performed, present an insurmountable barrier to the success of any plan of dsorganzation, by whatever patriotic name it may be decorated, or whatever high feelings may be arrayed for its support. The force of these evident truths, the effects they must ultimately have upon the minds of those who seem for q moment to have dsregarded them, make me cherish the belief l have eX pressed, that could have bcen present at your celebration, should have found all par ties ccncnriing to promote the object of your association. You have distinctly expressed that object-s'to revive in its full force the be- nign spirit cf Union, and to renew .hc mutual confidence in each others good will and pat rict.sm." Such endcavors, calmly and firmly perstvcrcd in cannot fail of sue, eSs. Such sen- timents are appropriate to the celebration of that high festival, which commentaries the simultaneous declaration of Union anl Inde- pendencc-and when on the return of that day, we naturally renew the pledge that our heroic fathers made, ofife, offortune, and of sacred honor, let us never forget that it was given to sustain us asa United, not less than an lndehendent people.
 Knowing as do. the private worth and public virtues of fdistinguisle ei citizens to whom declarations inconsistent with an attachment 10 the Union have been ascrihetl, cannot but hope, that if accurately reported, they were the effect of momentary excitement, not de- llberate design and that such men can never have formed the project cf pursuing course of
 
 means; but ifI am mistaken in this charitable hope, then in the language of the father of our country, would conjure them to estimate properly "the immense value Of your nation al Union to your collective and individual hap ipness;" to cherish Ca cordial, habitual, and immoveable attachment to it accustom your selves to think and speak oft as the palladium ofyonr political safety and prosperity, watch ing for it's preservation with jealous anxiety {; discountcnancing whatever may suggest even suspicion that it can in any event,b be abandon ed and indignantly drowning upon the first dawning ofevery attempt to alinate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the va rious parts.' .,......-...-..,
 Your patriotic endeavors, Gentlemen, to lessen the violence of party dissention, cannot be forwarded more effectualy than by incul- eating reliance on the justice of our Ma tional Councils. and pointing to the fast,ap- preaching extinction of the public debt, as an event which must necessarily produce modi- fcations in the Revenue System, by which all interests, unde. .a spirit of mutual accomada-