'T is a little more than three weeks since the dearest of friends and
tenderest of husbands left his solitary partner, and quitted all the
fond endearments of domestic felicity for the dangers of the sea,
exposed, perhaps, to the attack of a hostile foe, and, O good Heaven!
can I add, to the dark assassin, to the secret murderer, and the bloody
emissary of as cruel a tyrant as God, in his righteous judgments, ever
suffered to disgrace the throne of Britain.
I have travelled with you over the wide Atlantic, and could have landed
you safe, with humble confidence, at your desired haven, and then have
set myself down to enjoy a negative kind of happiness in the painful
part which it has pleased Heaven to allot me; but the intelligence with
regard to that great philosopher, able statesman, and unshaken friend of
his country,[189] has planted a dagger in my breast, and I feel, with a
double edge, the weapon that pierced the bosom of a Franklin.
"For nought avail the virtues of the heart,
Nor towering genius claims its due reward;
From Britain's fury, as from death's keen dart,
No worth can save us, and no fame can guard."
The more distinguished the person, the greater the inveteracy of these
foes of human nature. The argument of my friends to alleviate my
anxiety, by persuading me that this shocking attempt will put you more
upon your guard and render your person more secure than if it had never
taken place, is kind in them, and has some weight; but my greatest
comfort and consolation arise from the belief of a superintending
Providence, to whom I can with confidence commit you, since not a
sparrow falls to the ground without his notice. Were it not for this, I
should be miserable and overwhelmed by my fears and apprehensions.
Freedom of sentiment, the life and soul of friendship, is in a great
measure cut off by the danger of miscarriage and the apprehension of
letters falling into the hands of our enemies. Should this meet with
that fate, may they blush for their connection with a nation who have
rendered themselves infamous and abhorred by a long list of crimes,
which not their high achievements, nor the lustre of former deeds, nor
the tender appellation of parent, nor the fond connection which once
subsisted, can ever blot from our remembrance, nor wipe out those
indelible stains of their cruelty and baseness. They have engraven them
with a pen of iron on a rock forever.
To my dear son remember me in the most affectionate terms. I would have
written to him, but my notice is so short that I have not time. Enjoin
it upon him never to disgrace his mother, and to behave worthily of his
father. Tender as maternal affection is, it was swallowed up in what I
found a stronger, or so intermixed that I felt it not in its full force
till after he had left me. I console myself with the hopes of his
reaping advantages, under the careful eye of a tender parent, which it
was not in my power to bestow upon him.
There has nothing material taken place in the political world since you
left us. This letter will go by a vessel for Bilbao, from whence you may
perhaps get better opportunities of conveyance than from any other
place. The letter you delivered to the pilot came safe to hand. All the
little folks are anxious for the safety of their papa and brother, to
whom they desire to be remembered; to which are added the tenderest
sentiments of affection, and the fervent prayers for your happiness and
safety, of your