LETT E R S . 



SUBJECTS OF LETTERS STATED. 

 LETTER No. I. 



WASHINGTON, December 6, 1843. 



GENTLEMEN : It has appeared to me that the publication in your 

 widely circulated journal of a series of articles on the National Institute, 

 Smithsonian Legacy, and other matters connected with the interests of 

 the District of Columbia, might be a desideratum at present, and cal- 

 culated to do good here and elsewhere. 



Fortunately for my project, which I have had in contemplation for 

 some time past, and the execution of which I postponed until the 

 meeting of Congress, the present President of the United States, in his 

 last Message, has called the serious and favorable attention of Congress 

 to the interests of this District. This appeal in our behalf has elicited 

 from you the following well-deserved and appropriate remarks : 



"We cannot dismiss the Message to-day, however, without expressing our gratification 

 at the liberal terms in which the President has introduced into it the affairs of the District 

 of Columbia, for which he is entitled to the sincere thanks of his fellow-citizens whose lot 

 is cast within its limits. Let us hope that, in the exhibition of thoughtfulness and liberality 

 towards this disfranchised District, the two Houses of Congress will not suffer themselves 

 to be outdone by the Chief Magistrate." 



The portion of the Message which called forth these remarks is as 

 follows : 



" I cannot close this communication, gentlemen, without recommending to your most 

 favorable consideration the interests of this District. Appointed by the Constitution its 

 exclusive legislators, and forming, in this particular, the only anomaly in our system of 

 Government of the legislative body being elected by others than those for whose advantage 

 they are to legislate, you will feel a superadded obligation to look well into their condition, 

 and to leave no cause for complaint or regret." 



That this warm and generous appeal may go to the heart of every 

 member of the National Councils, to be followed by the desired results, 

 should be the aspiration of ever)' citizen of the District and true lover 

 of his country. 



Believing, then, that the present is the proper time for inviting and 

 urging the attention of Congress and the public in general to the sub- 

 ject, and with such valuable recommendations as the foregoing, I deem 

 it my duty, though an humble citizen of the District, to do my best in 

 the good cause. 



