Richmond Enquirer

From the Albany Argus.

TRIBUTE OF RESPECT.

We have been favoured with a copy of the following correspondence, and we take a pleasure in laying it before our readers. The expression of respect, of confidence and of esteem, so fitly conveyed in the letter of the republican members, embodies the feelings & wishes of the democracy of this state. The reply is equally pertinent, and equally in unison with the feelings of a republican people. We are happy to note this public interchange of mutual regards, between the representatives of a party, which has been, in all periods, whether of triumph or adversity, the defence and safeguard of the country, and which is now so proudly associated with its glory and prosperity,—and an eminent citizen, who has so long and so ably asserted its principles and contributed to its supremacy. These proceedings, with the unanimous consent of the legislature, constitute the highest and most gratifying evidences of the approbation of a free state.

To his Excellency Martin Van Buren.

SIR—The republican members of the legislature now in session, in anticipation of your early departure from this state, in consequence of your appointment to the office of Secretary of State of the United States, have recently held a meeting, for the purpose of adopting suitable measures to express to you their attachment to your person, their respect for your character, and their regret at the separation which is about to take place. We have been appointed a committee to communicate with you on this interesting occasion.

The immediate loss of your services in administering the government of this state, is deeply felt; but we look forward to your exertions in the public service, upon a sphere more extended, and agree to express our decided approbation of your determination to assume the high and responsible duties which you are called to perform.

The nation at large has a claim upon the services of her distinguished sons, which we are most ready to acknowledge; and in the present instance we do it the more cheerfully, because we recognize in the organization of the national cabinet, under the auspices of our distinguished fellow-citizen who has been recently elevated by the free suffrages of the people to the chief magistracy of the Union, a gratifying pledge that his administration will be governed by republican principles, and guided by the lights that flow from the mind that founded and the mind that reformed our system.

We confidently indulge the expectation, that in the new field of duty before you, your labors will be eminently useful to this confederated republic. And that you may meet in every stage of life the respect, and enjoy the esteem, of the wise and the good, is the sincere desire of your republican fellow-citizens of the senate and assembly.

We deem it peculiarly auspicious that the executive department of our state government devolves upon an able, firm, and tried republican, in whom we cheerfully repose confidence to administer it in strict conformity with the rights and interests of the people.

This occasion presents a fit opportunity, and we cordially embrace it, to tender to you our acknowledgments for the numerous and important services which you have rendered to the state, particularly in sustaining those political principles which we believe to be most intimately blended with its highest and dearest interests.

Distinguished as you have been for a firm and undeviating attachment to the principles which have borne the republican party triumphantly through the dangers which in peace and in war have threatened it, and having eminently contributed to sustain those principles, your republican fellow-citizens and friends of the Senate and Assembly entertain a deep solicitude for your future welfare. In behalf of them we take leave of you, assuring you that your health, happiness, and fame, will continue to be objects of anxious solicitude: and we commend you to him who has life and its enjoyments in his omnipotent keeping, in the hope that he may grant to you rich blessings & prolonged life.

WM. M. OLIVER,
N. S. BENTON.
CHARLES STEBBINS
Committee on the part of the republican members of the Senate.

A. MANN, Jr.
A. O. DAYTON,
B. EDGERTON,
E. SAVAGE,
A. DANA,
Committee on the part of the republican members of the Assembly.

Albany, March 12, 1829.

ALBANY, March 13, 1829.

Gentlemen—I cannot make known to you the measure of my gratitude for the affectionate expressions of favour, confidence and friendship, contained in your communication of yesterday. But the prompt and efficient manner in which you have sustained me, in the most delicate and trying act of my public life, at least demands from me some attempt at acknowledgment and reply.

It gives me sincere gratification to perceive that you approve of the decision I have made upon my recent appointment to a seat in the national cabinet, and that your views as to the line of public duty connected with that appointment are in unison with my own. If I know myself, there could be no reflection more painful than the apprehension that my constituents, and more particularly that portion of them who are represented by yourselves, could for a moment believe that, in surrendering the free and distinguished offering of their kindness, I had been actuated by any other than public considerations. Having already participated in the public favor far beyond my deserts, I consented to become a candidate for the office of governor against my own wishes, and from deference for and submission to the wishes of my political friends. To the same influence, on a more extended scale, greatly strengthened by the matter stated in my communication to the legislature, I yield myself in leaving you to enter upon the arduous duties of the station to which I have been called. Of the favorable opinion you have been pleased to express as to the probable usefulness of my services in that station, I can only say, that although I shall approach the duties which belong to it with apprehension and distrust, my best efforts shall be devoted to their successful discharge.

The confidence expressed by you in the honorable individual, who by the freest choice of the people has been placed at the head of the national government, is founded on the most solid grounds. Entering upon the duties of his office with a heart beating in unison with the public feeling, and an intellect strong in native vigor, and uncontaminated by court intrigues, having no other to seek for other than the good of his country and the thanks of his constituents—and guided by the lights reflected by the pure examples of Washington and Jefferson, it would seem to be impossible (unless, indeed, the favour of Providence be entirely withdrawn from us) that the hopes you express should fail of their accomplishment.

Of the excellent individual upon whom the government of the state has devolved, I have already spoken in an official communication. The favourable judgment we have formed, will, I doubt not, be fully confirmed by time and experience.

The indulgent view which you have taken of my attachment to the republican party, and the degree of usefulness which, in the spirit of republican liberality, you are pleased to ascribe to my efforts in its service, are most grateful to my feelings. In labouring to sustain the democracy of the state and nation, I have myself been sustained by the conviction, that its prosperity and the good of the country were at all times identified. After a devotion to these principles for five and twenty years, under circumstances not unfrequently of great peril and extreme adversity, it will not be thought strange, even by those whose sentiments do not harmonize with ours, that I should avow my determination to cherish them to the end.

Allow me to reciprocate, in behalf of yourselves and those you represent, the kind wishes of health and happiness contained in your communication, and permit me to tender you individually, the assurance of my respect and esteem.

I am, gentlemen,
Your obedient servant,
M. VAN BUREN

To the Honourable William M. Oliver; N. S. Benton, and Charles Stebbins. Committee on the part of the Republican Members of the Senate:
A Mann, Jr., A. O. Dayton, B. Egerton, E. Savage, and A. Dana, Committee on the part of the Republican Members of the Assembly.