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Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1843, by WILLIAM GOODMAN,

In the District Clerk's Office of the District Court of Ohio.

61-27 46 MILT

Gen, Lib

Burton Historical Collection 4-18-23

Cincinnati, July 19th, 1843.

Hon. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS,

Dear Sir:

This letter will be presented by Professor MITCHEL, Astronomer of "The Cincinnati Astronomical Society," who is the bearer of a resolution, unanimously passed at a full meeting of the Society, requesting him, to wait on you at Quincy, and in their name, to solicit you to lay the corner stone of their Observatory, at such time as will be most convenient to yourself.

The high veneration entertained by the Society, for your character a knowledge of the arduous, disinterested duties, you have rendered your country, and a belief that the granting of this request, will ensure the accomplishment of their object, has induced them, to direct their attention to you, on this occasion.

Permit me to add my most anxious hope, that it will be in your power to grant their request. Should it be so, you will be met by thousands of your fellow citizens, who venerate your character, but whose situation in life, hitherto, has prevented them from tendering to you, manifestations of their respect and friendship.

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I have received with deep sensibility, the resolutions of the "Cincinnati Astronomical Society," which were delivered to me personally by you; and with the blessing of God, will perform the duty assigned to me by the Society, on the day which may suit the convenience of the society during the ensuing month of November.

With great respect, I am, dear sir, Your ob't. serv't.
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.

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NOTE.-Mr. ADAMS reached the city of Cincinnati, on the 8th of November, and the ceremony of laying the Corner Stone of the Observatory was performed on the following day. Mr. ADAMS was introduced to the Society, and the multitude present, in the following address:

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JUDGE BURNET'S ADDRESS.

MR. ADAMS-FELLOW-CITIZENS:

It becomes my duty on this occasion, to present to you a scholar and statesman, whom the intelligent of all countries delight to honor. Being a son of one of the framers and defenders of the Declaration of Independence, his political principles were formed in the school of the sages of the Revolution, from whom he imbibed the spirit of liberty, while he was yet a boy.

Having been brought up among the immediate descendants of the puritan fathers, whose landing in Massachusetts in the winter of 1620, gave immortality to the rock of Plymouth, his moral and religious impressions were derived from a source of the most rigid purity; and his manners and habits were formed in a community, where ostentation and extravagance had no place. In this fact, we see why it is, that he has always been distinguished for purity of motive, simplicity of manners, and republican plainness in his style of living, and in his intercourse with society. To the same causes may be ascribed, his firmness, his directness of purpose, and his unyielding adherence to personal, as well as to political liberty. You have recently seen him stand, as unmoved as the rock of Gibraltar, defending the right of petition, and the constitutional privileges of the representatives of the people, assembled in Congress, though fiercely assailed by friends and by foes.

His early education was peculiarly calculated to fit him for the duties of a statesman. It was superintended and directed by his father, an accomplished scholar, and a commanding orator. It commenced with the Revolutionary struggle, and was completed about the time the independence of the colonies was formally acknowledged by Great Britain. During a large portion of that period, he was with his father in Europe, and consequently mingling with the most distinguished statesmen of the day; listening to their instructive discussions—acquiring a knowledge of the principles on which the claims of his country were based-the course of reasoning by which they were sustained, and, also, the manner of conducting important negotiations, in which difficulties presented

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