The friends of the Vice President deem the publication of the correspondence I have refered to important but feel a delicacy about publishing it ^to permit its publication without yo^ without your consent. To meet the event circumstance of your not having the letters in your possession I take the liberty of enclosing copies which have ben taken from the V.P. letter book. I am fully aware Sir of your aversion to connecting yourself with at this time with the party politics of the day & did I consider an expression of your opinion on the merits of Govr. Tompkins conduct services during the late war as having ^in the least degree^ that tendency <impo> I should be the last person who could be induced to impose you the necessity of declining it. But thinking otherwise I fwill throw myself on your Indulgence by ^in^ suggesting the high gratification which that portion of our citizens who look back to their conduct during that most interesting period of this time & of your administration as the proudest of their lives, would derive from learning that the Services rendd. to his country ^by <illegible>^ during the War, are as highly estimated by you as they are by them.

Permit me, Sir, to <illegible> in this note the sentiment of gratitude which I entertain from the <illegible> ^repeat in this^ my veneration for your public character & the devotion with which I am