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Mr. Peabo-
dy's first letter.
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minister to the service of this community, by the
devotion of a portion of their time to a work
which, I earnestly hope, may ho found to be,
both in the influence of its example and in the
direct administration of its purpose, a long, fruit-
ful and prosperous benefaction to the good people
of Baltimore.
I must not omit to impress upon you a sugges-
tion for the government of the Institute, which I
deem to be of the highest moment, and which I de-
sire shall be ever present to the view of the Board
of Trustees. My earnest wish to promote, at all
times, a spirit of harmony and good will in so-
ciety; my aversion to intolerance, bigotry and
party rancor, and my enduring respect and love
for the happy institutions of our prosperous re-
public, impel me to express the wish, that the
Institute I have proposed to you, shall always be
strictly guarded against the possibility of being
made a theatre for the dissemination or discus-
sion of sectarian theology or party politics; that
it shall never minister, in any manner whatever,
to political dissension, to infidelity, to visionary
theories of a pretended philosophy which may
be aimed at the subversion of the approved mor-
als of society; that it shall never lend its aid or
influence to the propagation of opinions tending
to create or encourage sectional jealousies in our
happy country, or which may lead to the aliena-
tion of the people of one State or section of the
Union from those of another. But that it shall
be so conducted, throughout its whole career, as
to teach political and religious charity, tolera-
tion and beneficence, and prove itself to be, in all
contingencies and conditions, the true friend of
our inestimable Union, of the salutary institu-
tions of free government, and of liberty regu-
lated by law. I enjoin these precepts upon the
Board of Trustees and their successors forever,
for their invariable observance and enforcement
in the administration of the duties I have confided
to them.
And now, in conclusion, I have only to express
my wish, that, in providing for the building you
arc to erect, you will allow space for future ad-
ditions, in case they may be found necessary,
and that in its plan, style of architecture, and
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