I have been prevented by the extreme pressure of my busines from making an earlier acknowledgement of the receipt of your friendly letter. It contained the first intimation I received of Mr Browns Book. Since which he has sent me a copy but I have not had time to read it.

The apprehension that the Republican Party of Newyork can be involved in the contest between the supporters and opponents of masonry, is in my judgment groundless.

The attempt already made, to appropriate the excitement very naturally and justly produced by the abduction of Morgan, to party purposes, has been most righteously rebuked by that sober second thought of the people, which is never wrong and always efficient. Future efforts to make it the source of political or personal advantage will share the same fate; whether they have for their object, either, to identify the Republican cause with the maintenance of the masonic institution, to persecute those who are honestly & upon principle opposed to it, or to revive the excitement in its old & condemned aspect. The Republican Party succeeds best, & only will, when it reposes upon its original elements. They, have stood the test of time & persecution, have their foundation in the interests, feelings & judgments of the people and will, (whatever may be the hopes & fears of others) maintain its ascendancy long beyond our day. The past has disappointed all calculations which have been made upon a different result & the future will do the same. We here, desire to know people politically by their divisions upon points which are properly the subject of political contention & by no other.