I am, truly, your friend. Jesse D. Elliott. To Gen. Andrew Jackson. Hermitage, Tenn., March 27, 1845. _Dear Sir_—Your letter of the 18th inst. tonight with a copy of the Proceedings of the National Institute, furnished me by their corresponding secretary, on the presentation by you of the sarcophagus for acceptance on condition it shall be preserved and in honor of my memory, have been received and are now before me. Although laboring under great debility and affliction, from a severe attack from which I may not recover, I raise my pen and endeavor to reply. The steadiness of my nerves may perhaps lead you to conclude my prostration of strength is not so great as here expressed. Strange as it may appear, my nerves are as steady as they were forty years gone by, whilst from debility and affliction I am gasping for breath. I have read the whole proceedings of the presentation by you of the sarcophagus, and the resolutions passed by the board of directors so honorable to my fame, with sensations and feelings more easily to be conjectured than by me expressed. The whole proceedings call for my most grateful thanks which are hereby extended to you, and through you to the president and directors of the National Institute. BUT WITH THE WARMEST SENSATIONS THAT CAN INSPIRE A GRATEFUL HEART, I MUST DECLINE ACCEPTING THE HONOR INTENDED TO BE BESTOWED. I CANNOT CONSENT THAT MY MORTAL BODY SHALL BE LAID IN A REPOSITORY PREPARED FOR AN EMPEROR OR KING. MY REPUBLICAN FEELINGS AND PRINCIPLES FORBID IT; THE SIMPLICITY OF OUR SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT FORBIDS IT. EVERY MONUMENT ERECTED TO PERPETUATE THE MEMORY OF OUR HEROES AND STATESMEN OUGHT TO BEAR EVIDENCE OF THE ECONOMY AND SIMPLICITY OF OUR REPUBLICAN INSTITUTIONS AND OF THE PLAINNESS OF OUR REPUBLICAN CITIZENS, WHO ARE THE SOVEREIGNS OF OUR GLORIOUS UNION AND WHOSE VIRTUE IT IS TO PERPETUATE IT. TRUE VIRTUE CANNOT EXIST WHERE POMP AND PARADE ARE THE GOVERNING PASSIONS. IT CAN ONLY DWELL WITH THE PEOPLE—THE GREAT LABORING AND PRODUCING CLASSES—THAT FORM THE BONE AND SINEW OF OUR CONFEDERACY.