U.S. Brig Somers, New York Jan 11, 1843
My dear Sir,
In taking up my pen to reply to
your valuable and most welcome letter of the 3 instant I have
little hope of expressing to you a tithe of the gratification which
I have derived myself, and a large number of my friends both
professional and in private life have derived with me, from its
perusal. A consciousness of entire rectitude, of having been
influenced throughout by none other than lofty and honourable
motives, and above all by an ardent patriotism and devotion to
my country and to its flag I already possessed; without this I
should have been weak indeed, and ready to sink under the
weight of responsibility, and of obloquy which from unworthy
quarters or from individuals too deeply interested in the
catastrophe to be just, was sure to fall
upon me. Still I must own that your letter has imparted to me
new confidence in the justice and propriety of what I had done,
and greatly increased encouragement. The assurance of your
approbation, fortified by so many reasons drawn from the
experience of a life prolonged far beyond the ordinary duration,
and expressed with such touching eloquence was received by me
for far more than its own intrinsic value. It comes to me from
the companion and the friend of Washington: that Washington
who died before I first drew breath, whom with my earliest
thoughts and affections I have been taught to reverence and
love, and whose name and fame can never die: It spoke to me
with a voice from the heroic age of the republic, when there was
really such a thing as patriotism; when patriotism exercised that
controul over men’s actions which now spring from party spirit,
and men served their country for the sake of that country with as
much
zeal as they now serve them selves. But I believe that much of
the difference may exist in the difference of the times. The
present do not call for great sacrifices. The effects of prosperity
are necessarily corrupting. If we were less prosperous perhaps
we would be more patriotic.
But I have been led insensibly into
these remarks. I had no intention when I commenced to attempt
imparting my ideas to one so much my superior in years and the
accumulated instruction which when well employed they bring
with them; but to thank you for the encouragement which you
have imparted to me, and to assure you that the letter in which it
was conveyed will be carefully treasured and transmitted to my
children; as an evidence when both you and I Sir are in our
tombs, that their Father had been deemed to merit the
approbation of a
fellow soldier and companion of the founder of our liberties.
In closing my letter I am forcibly
reminded with the apology for the hand writing on account of
old age with which you close, and feel ashamed that mine
should be so much more scrawling and illegible than yours. I
did indeed intend to have copied this letter in order to have made
it in this respect at least a worthier return for yours: but the
incessant and engrossing nature of my present occupations,
which have occasioned me to defer expressing my deep
acknowledgments to you so much longer than I desired, will
also prevent me from now laying them before you in a less
slovenly form.
I was anxious to have had the honour of
waiting upon you on Sunday last; but was informed that you
resided in the country. Since then I have learned that you are in
town and have obtained the direction of your residence, where I
propose on next Sunday to wait upon you. I have the honour in
the meantime to assure you of the gratitude and respect with
which I am
Your most obedient Alex. Slidell Mackenzie
The Somers Affair
