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{Georgia state seal}

Executive Departmen,
Milledgeville, Ga, Oct 8th 1860.

James H. Otey, Esqr.
Chmn Ex. Comm. of Bd. of Trustees
of the University of the South.
University Place, Tenn.

Sir:

In the absence of the Governor, I have the
honor to acknowledge the receipt of your polite note
inviting his Excellency to be present at the laying
of the cornerstone of the University of the South;
and in his Excellency's name, thanking you for
the honor conferred by extending the invitation,
I have to inform you, it will be wholly im-
possible, in view of the pressing official en-
gagements with which, just on the eve of a
Session of the Legislature, he is charged to
attend on that occasion.

With high respect,
I am, Sir,
Your Obt. Servt.
H. H. Waters
Sec'y Ex Dept.