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Important Letter From J. Wilkes Booth

Important Letter From J. Wilkes Booth image
Parent Issue
Day
28
Month
April
Year
1865
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Krom the Phikiiloliihia Press, April 10. We have just received the following etter, written by John Wilkes Booth, nd placed by hi:n iu the hands of bis )rother-in-law, 8. 8. Clarke. It was vr'tten by him iu November last, and eft with J. 8. Clarke in a sealed euvelpe, and addresssed to hiniseli, in nis own landwriting. In the same envelope were sorae Uuited States bonds and oil toeks. This letter was opened by Mr. Clarko for the fa'rst time on Monday last, nd iminediately handed by him (o Marhal Milward, who has kindly placed it n our hands. Mort unmistakably it )roves that he must for many ïaonths ïave contemplated seiziug the person of ae late President. It is, however, oubtful whether he imaginad the black eed whioh has plunged the nation iuto ae deepest gloom, and at the sama iuje awakened it to a jast aud righteous udiguatiun : , , 1864. My Dear Sir - You niay use thia as ou thiuk best. J3ut as some may wish o know when, who, and why, and as I ooiv not how to direct, I give it (iu the ords of your master,) To wliom it may concern : " Right or wrong, God judge me, not aan. For be iny rnotiye good or bad, f oae thiug I am sure, the lastinc con emnatioQ of the North. I love pleace more than life. Have uved thö ITuiou beyond expression, - Tor four years have Í waited, hoped and rayed for the dark olouds to break, and or a restoration of our former sunshiue. 'o wait longer would be a crime. All ope for peace is dead. My prayera ave proved as idle as my hopes. tíod's .vul be done. I go to see aad shure the itter etid. I have ever held the South were ight. The very uomiuation of Abraam Lincoln, four years ago, spoke lainly war - war upou Southern rights nd institutions. His election proved ;. " Await an overt act." Yes, till rou are bouud and filundertd. What olly 1 The South were wise. Who biuks of argument or patieuce when be finger of his eneray presses' on the rigger ? In aforeign war, I, too, could ay, " Country, right or wrong." But n a struggle such as ours, (where the rother tries to pierce the brotber's leart), for God's sake choose the right. Vhen a country like this epurnsjte 'rom her side ehe forfeits the fjlegiunce f every honeat freeman, and should eave him, uutrammeled by any fealty oever, to act as hia conscionea may apsrove. People of the North, to hate tyranny, o love liberty and justice, to strike at wrong ani opprcssiou, was the teaching of our fathers. The study of our early listory will not let me forget it, and may t never. This country was formed for the white, not for the black man. And, looking upon African slavery from the same tandpoiut held by the noble framers of our constitution, I, for one, have ever considered it one of the greatest blessing8 (both for themselves and us) that lod ever bestowed upen a favorcd nu ion. Witnesss heretofore our wealth and power; witness their elovation and enlightenment above their race elsewhere. I have lived among it most of my life, and have seen less hargh treatment from master to man than I have jeheld in the North from father to son, Yet, Heaven knowf, no one would be willi'ng to do more for the negro race han I, could I but see a way to still )etter their condition. Hat íncola s poney i uniy prepanug , the way for their total annihilation. The South are not, nor havo they beon, j ighting for the continuance of slavery. The first battle of Buil Run did away with that idea, Their causea sinee for war have been as noble and greater far tban those that urged our iathers on. - Even ghuuld we allow they were wrong at tho beginning of thia contest, crucltj and ÏDJustice have mude the wrong becoine the right, and they stand now (before the wonder and admiration of the world) as a noble batid of patriotiu héroes. Hereafter, reading of theii deods, Thevmopyloe will be forgotten. When I aided in tho capture and execution of John Brown, (who was amurderer on cur Western border, and who was fairly tried and convicted, bofore an impartial judge and jury, of treagon, and who, by the way, has sinco been mado a god,) I was proud of my little share in the iransaction, for I deemed it my duty, and that I was helping our co'mmon country to perform a simple act of justice. But what was a crime in poor John Brown is now considered (by themselves) as the greatest and only virtue of the whole republican party. Strange transmigration. Vice to boccxme a virtuo eimply beoause inore indulge in it. I thought then, as now, that the abolitionista were tho only traitors in the land, and that the entiro party desertes the same fute as poor oíd Brown ; uot because they wieh to abolish slavcry, but on account of the meaos they have ever endeavored to use to effeot that abolition. IfBi'owu vvore living I doubt whether he hiruself would set elavery ' againat the Umon. Most, or muny in the North do, and openly, curse the Uuion if the South is to return and rotain a single right guaranteed to thoia by every (ie whiuli we onee reverod us saered. The South eau make no choiue. It is eilher extenuination or skvcry for themselves (worse than doath) to diaw from. I know in y choice. I have a'so s'.udied hard to disoover upon what grouuds ttju right of a S:ate to secede has boen deuicd, when our very name, United States, and the Deo laratiou of Independente, Loth próvido for sciiussion. But thora is no tiuie for words. I wiite in haste. I know how foolisb I shall Lio deeined for uudertaking sueh a stop as tliis, whero, on the oue sido, I have many friends and everythiog to make mo happy, where my profeenioQ haa gaiued me an inoomo of more than twenty thousand dollars a year, and where my greut persoual ambit.on in my proi'ession luis suuh a gieat fijld for labor. Ou the other haüd, the South has nover bestowed upon me one kind word ; a place now wbere I have no friends, exeept beneath the sod ; a plaoe whero I must either beeorno a private soldier or u beggar. To give up all of the formcr for the latter, besides my aothér and sisters whom I love so deary (although they so widely diner with me íq opinión), seems insane ; but God is ny judge. I love justice more than [do a country that disowns it ; more thua fame and wealth ; more (Heaven jardou me if wrong) moro than a happy ïome. I have never been upon a battle field ; but oh ! my couutrymen, could ou all but see the reality or effects of ;his horrid war, as I have seen theui (in every State, save Virginia,) I kliow you would think like me, aud would pray the Almighty to créate in the Northern nind a sense of right and justtee (even should it possess noseasoning of morcy,) and that He would dry up this sea of jlood between us, whicli is daily grown; wider. Also ! poor country, is she " .1 ,1 f il O T71 lo meet ner mreaienea aoom t xuui rears ago I would have given a thousund ives to eee her remain (as-I had alwaya nown her) powerful and unbrokeu And even now I would hold my lif'e aa naught to see her what she was. Oh ! ny friends, if the fearful scènes of the )ast four yeare had never been enacted, or if what has been but a frightful dreatn, from whith wo could now awake, with wliat overflowiug heurts could we )less our God aad pray fur his continue'd 'avor ! How I have loved the old flag can uever dow be known. A few yoars since, and the entiro world could boast of none so pure and spotless. But I ïavo of late been seeing and hearing of the body dceds of which she has been, nade the emblem, ind would shudder to hink how changed ha had grown. Oh ! iow I have longod to see her break Toin the mist of blood and death that circles round her folds, spoiling her beauty and tiirnishiog her honor. But no, day by day Las she been dragged deeper and deeper iuto cruelty and oppres8ion, till now (in my eyes,) her once 3right red stripes look like bloody gaBh es on the face of heaven. I look now upon my oarly admiration of her glories as a dreava. My love (as thinga stand to day) is for the South alone. Nor do I deetn it a dishonor in attempting to rnake a prisoner of this man, to vvhom she owes so much misery. If aucce-is atteuds me I go penniless to her sklo. They say she has found that "last ditoh" whieh the North have so long deridtsd and buen endeavoring to forco her io, forget.ting they are our brothers, and that it is impolitic to goad an enemy to madness, Should I reach her in safety, and find it true, I will proudly beg permissión to triumph or die in that game "ditch" by her side. A Confedérate doing duty upon hit own responsibility. J. WILKES BOOTII.

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Subjects
Old News
Michigan Argus