LOUISVILLE, KY., Aug.
22, 1830.
HONORED FATHER, — I avail myself of the first moment of
leisure on my arrival at this place to relieve you from the anxiety which I am
conscious you have ere this begun to feel on my account. I could not have
neglected writing so long had I anticipated the possibility of being detained
so long at the South. One cause of delay after another prolonged the period of
my departure from New Orleans till the latter part of July, and having to stop
at several places on the river where I had business to look after, and the
rivers being almost too low for steamboat navigation at this season, August has
almost passed away before I could reach here. My health, thank God, has been
uniformly good, and I am quite well at this time. I am without news from any of
my family or friends these several mouths past, which makes me exceedingly
anxious about their welfare. I hope some of you will write instantly on
receiving this, and direct to Wheeling, Virginia, where I expect to be in the
course of three or four weeks. It is impossible for me to determine whether I
can visit Hudson this fall or not. I am engaged about some political
arrangements in opposition to the present unprincipled and corrupt
Administration, to which I have become so committed as not to be master of my
own time. The arrangements alluded to have for their object the best interests
of our common country; and believing that I may be instrumental in doing good
in this way, I feel it to be my duty to exert my endeavors. I go from this
place to Frankfort, thence to Lexington,1 thence to Maysville, and
thence to Wheeling. If it shall be possible for me to visit Hudson before I
proceed to the eastward, I will do so. An infirmity of my nerves, proceeding
from an unknown cause, makes it difficult to write legibly. I have been
conscious that this was growing on me for years, without being able to apply
any remedy. I never lived so temperately as I have the year past. Pray present
me to the recollection of my brothers and sisters, and to all my friends
affectionately. Years do but increase and confirm the sense of filial duty and
gratitude with which I remain
Your son,
SALMON BROWN
__________
1 Henry Clay lived near Lexington, and it was
doubtless in the interest of that statesman and his friends that young Brown undertook
this crusade against the "unprincipled and corrupt administration" of
General Jackson, who had been elected in 1828 and inaugurated in 1829, in spite
of Clay, — defeating John Quincy Adams. I have not yet found copies of Brown's
"New Orleans Bee," but doubtless the sting of this journal was
directed against Jackson in the city which he rescued from British invasion.
SOURCE: Franklin B. Sanborn, The Life and Letters of
John Brown, p. 29-30
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