AUTOGRAPH LETTER, SIGNED, TO GEORGE SILSBY, 23 APRIL 1838, COMMENTING ON PROMINENT WASHINGTON POLITICAL FIGURES, THEIR SKILLS, OPINIONS, AND CHARACTERS, WITH GOSSIP ABOUT THE UNDERSIDE OF THE WASHINGTON SOCIAL SCENE.
Washington D.C. 1838. [4]pp in dense but fully legible ink manuscript. Written on a single folio sheet 10" x 15-1/2," folded to 10" x 7-3/4." Folded for mailing, addressed to Silsby in Concord, New Hampshire, with postal cancel and red wax seal remnant. Very Good.
Farnam [1815-1878] and Silsby [1817-1892] published 'Star in the East', a Concord religious newspaper. Farnam's Letter is a richly detailed and entertaining window on the political and social world of Washington, D.C., in the late 1830s. Written in the wake of the Panic of 1837, it reflects the uneasy atmosphere of political debate, economic uncertainty, and social spectacle that characterized the capital during this period. Farnam's commentary on legislators, urban vice, theatre culture, and everyday life is an unusually perceptive description of the political and social culture of Washington.
His observations about prominent political figures-- particularly Henry Clay, James Buchanan, and John Quincy Adams -- are particularly interesting. Farnam calls Clay a "noble-looking fellow" whose "eloquence when speaking exceeds all the lofty opinions [I] had ever formed of his greatness as an orator and debater." He calls Buchanan "one of the finest speakers in the Senate." He admires the forceful oratory of "Old Johnny Q."- - John Quincy Adams.
Lots of drinking goes on in Washington. "Senators and Reps liquor up and lay in." One unnamed representative "got his feet knocked under him on Pennsylvania Avenue by an ungrateful little fellow by the name of alcohol whom he had very hospitably given shelter in his head." Another, after overindulging, "fell into the canal, which probably cooled him off a little!" Farnam describes "the great quantity of frail sisters who promenade the streets both day and night."
Farnam also recounts his own leisure activities, particularly visits to the theatre, where he saw performances by celebrated Shakespearean actors Edwin Forrest (1806 - 1872) and Junius Brutus Booth (1796 -1852), the father of John Wilkes Booth. Farnam describes the elder Booth as "a small man but a powerful actor." Item #42284
Price: $750.00