302

Register Office

Mobile Oct 7 / 1860

{illegible: Ryht?}. Rev. J. H. Otey

Bishop of Tennessee

University Place, Franklin Co. Tenn.

Dear Sir,

A faint hope of being present at
the interesting ceremony on the 10th is my apology
for not sooner acknowledging the honor of your
invitation. No other temptation could have
seduced me, even for a moment, from my post
of duty in this the heart of the battle of politics,
but I could not help indulging {insert symbol: even to the last hour} a hope that either
W. Forsyth{?} or myself might be able to testify
in person to the deep interest we both feel
in an enterprise {strikethrough: which} the initiation of which
only marks the beginning of a new era in the
national life of the South.

You, sir, & your worthy collaborators,
are the real builders of a Southern nationality,
for you are laboring for that intellectual
independence which should ever precede an
independent national {illegible}. There is
much that points us out as a peculiar people,
destined under Providence to be the founders of