Although my cause, being based in eternal truth, does not depend upon
certificates and testimonials to sustain it, and stands therefore in no
need of them; yet, as they are sometimes called for, as a confirmation of
my statements, I have asked for just such testimonials as the following
gentlemen felt self-moved to give me. I needed no testimonials while
prosecuting my business in Illinois, for the facts of the case were so
well known there, by the papers reporting my trial so generally. I needed
no other passport to the confidence of the public.
But when I came to Boston to commence my business in Massachusetts, being
an entire stranger there, I found the need of some credentials or
testimonials in confirmation of my strange and novel statements. And it
was right and proper, under such circumstances, that I should have them. I
therefore wrote to Judge Boardman and Hon. S. S. Jones, my personal
friends, in Illinois, and told them the difficulty I found in getting my
story believed, and asked them to send me anything in the form of a
certificate, that they in their judgment felt disposed to send me, that
might help me in surmounting this obstacle. Very promptly did these
gentlemen respond to my request, and sent me the following testimonials,
which were soon printed in several of the Boston papers, with such
editorials accompanying them, as gave them additional weight and influence
in securing to me the confidence of the public.
Judge Boardman is an old and distinguished Judge in Illinois, receiving,
as he justly merits, the highest esteem and confidence of his
cotemporaries, as a distinguished scholar, an eminent Judge, and a
practical Christian.
Mr. Jones is a middle aged man, of the same stamp as the Judge, receiving
proof of the esteem in which he is held by his cotemporaries, in being
sent to Congress by vote of Illinois' citizens, and by having been for
successive years a member of the Legislature of that State. He was in that
position when he sent me his certificate.