Thursday, September 21, 2023

Theodore Parker to Congressman Horace Mann, May 6, 1850

BOSTON, May 6, 1850.
HON. HORACE MANN.

MY DEAR SIR,—Perhaps I ought not to trouble so busy a man as you are to read so unimportant a matter as a letter from me; but I cannot reasonably forbear telling you how thankful I am to you for writing such a noble letter to your friends and constituents. God bless you for it! I intended once, soon after Mr. Webster made his speech, to have written a public letter to you, and reviewed the whole matter before the country; but I am glad I did not, for then I should, perhaps, have prevented you from doing better than any one has done hitherto. A hundred and seventy years ago, John Locke wrote: "Slavery is so vile and miserable an estate of man, and so directly opposite to the generous temper and courage of our nation, that it is hardly to be conceived that an Englishman, much less a gentleman, should plead for it."

Yet think of Mr. Webster and his eight hundred "retainers," as the "Advertiser " calls them!

Accept my heartiest thanks for your many services, and believe me your friend and servant,

THEO. PARKER.

SOURCE: Mary Tyler Peabody Mann, Life of Horace Mann, p. 300-1

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