Boston, December 22, 1859.
Dear Sir, — I
am sorry to see, by a reported speech of yours, that you are among those who
have been duped by vile fellows who believe that a large number of decent men
in this part of the country are implicated in the affair of Harper's Ferry.
Among other names I find my own, and I am the person alluded to as a cotton
speculator who employed Brown to do his work. To show you how absurd this whole
plan of libel will appear when it is examined, I will state my own case.
1st. I am the son of Amos Lawrence, now deceased, whom you
knew, and who brought me up to be a “national” man, as we understand that term.
2d. I have been so decided in my own opposition to the formation of sectional
parties, that those who voted for Fillmore in Massachusetts, in 1856, nominated
me for governor, but I declined. They have requested me to be a candidate every
year since that, and last year I did run against Mr. Banks. 3d. Though largely
interested in cotton factories as a shareholder, I never owned a bale of cotton
in my life, and never had any business with any person whom I knew as a
speculator in cotton. Some years ago I took a great interest in our people who
settled in Kansas, many of whom went from Lowell and Lawrence with their families.
They were shockingly abused, and if it were not for my wife and seven children
at home, I would have taken a more active part in that business. But that has
passed long ago; it did not induce me to join the Republicans, though it did
most of my friends. I took part with Mr. William Appleton and my relative Mr.
F. Pierce in the Faneuil Hall meeting here the other day, and with most of our
people am called a “hunker,” and even in Mississippi should be a law and order
man. You will do me a favor, if you will prevent my being summoned to
Washington on so foolish an errand as to testify about Harper's Ferry.
Respectfully and
truly yours,
A. A. L.
SOURCE: William Lawrence, Life of Amos A. Lawrence:
With Extracts from His Diary and Correspondence, p. 136-8
