Show SOME KIOKING JLeltcrfc Received by the Secretary of tic Programme Committee The following letters have been received re-ceived by the Secretary of the Fourth of July tory committee They arc pelfoxplana SALT LAKE Crrv June 251887 2181 To J J Tliomas Esq Sec Fourth of July Committee DEn SmIn reply to your communication of the 20th inst informing me that I have been selected ns one of the citizens to deliver an address on the Fourth of July I regret to say that it will not be convenient for me to respond as indicated and therefore I must decline Your truly C S VABIAN SAT LAKE Crrr June 281887 J J Thomas Esq Secretary Committee etc DEAl Sin Your communication advising ad-vising mo that I had been selected to deliver delver an address on the approaching Fourth of July was duly received Under any other than the most extraordinary circumstances I nhould consider it a duty as well as a pleasure to join in celebrating our national anniversary but observe that a class of persons who but two years ago emphasized their hostility to our laws and evinced their contempt for the National flag by placing it at halfmast on that day honored above all al others by every true American citizen have solicited an opportunity to have their sentiments ments voiced and have procured for their representatives prominent positions in the ceremonies to bo observed I cordially assent as-sent that conduct such as this should be condoned whenever thero is reason to be hove it has been repented of In the past I have been both an advocate and an example of endeavoring to bury those differences which unhappily exist in this Territory on occasions like this and am still of the opinion that every effort should be made to do so consistent with self respect and a proper regard for those institutions insti-tutions whose establishment it is proposed to celebrate But when I am invited to participate par-ticipate in a public manner in celebrating the anniversary of the day that gave our nation birth with those who within two years were either actively engaged in offering offer-ing a deliberate insult to our National emblem em-blem sympathizing with or openly apologizing apolo-gizing for that insult and no sign of a change of heart has since been disclosed I am forced by my veneration for our National Na-tional institutions to decline Now that this class of persons are in fact unchanged in sentiment is apparent from many recent acts and utterances among which may be mentioned the reply and refusal of the City Council of Salt Lao to your earlier invitation to join in this celebration I think that response must be accepted as amore a-more genuine expression of their feelings than the part they are now proposing to perform That their recent solicitations to participate in tho celebration is in the hope of gaining an advantage purely personal per-sonal and political and not the result of appreciation of or veneration for the laws and institutions wo enjoy is so patent as to bo unmistakable In have more respect for their action in halfmasting the flag on July 4 1885 than in professing devotion to it on July 4 1887 for tho former I am convinced was prompted from the heart while the latter is but the service of the lips Thanking you for the honor your invitation invita-tion implies and regretting sincerely that I am constrained to decline I am very respectfully re-spectfully yours P L WILLIAMS |