[The letter is intended to be a
letter which could have been written by John Wales to Captain Hemings after his
attempts to buy and take her (p.49). This letter is hypothetically written shortly after Captain Hemings gave up trying to purchase Elizabeth Hemings from John Wales.]
Dear Captain Hemings:
I hope you do not hold any ill will toward me. As a gentleman and man of God, I honor myself
as not being a cruel man, and I do not think my decision to hold on to
Elizabeth was or is still unreasonable. You seem an honorable fellow yourself,
and forgive me for stepping from my station to say that I do not look down upon
you for your relations with the darkest of flesh, and I would be lying if I did
not say her mother did not once possess my attention. Nonetheless, you must respect that my
curiosities and property are mine to do with as I please.
Do not take this letter as a letter of pity, or of
contempt for your failed efforts to steal that which was not yours, but words
between two men to gain an understanding deserved so there may be peace between
us.
While I certainly can understand your desire to be
in possession of this young thing, whose blood flows from you, you must see
your temporary state of madness for what it was and accept that buying this
young thing would not have been the right thing to do. You should and must see the service I have
provided you. I have saved you from the
horror of seeing this young degraded form of humanity surely disappoint you,
and surely she would. She will never
possess the thoughts, the ideas, the creativity, nor the life which you expect
from her.
For a time I played with the idea of accepting the
large sum which you offered to pay for the young thing, but it only took a moment
for me to realize that I would be doing a man, who I hold no ill will toward, a
strong and bitter disservice. I can see now the frustration and darkness which would
surely have overcome you in your failed expectations. Perhaps if you would have come to your senses
and talked of her as she did not possess potential for intelligence and reason
maybe I would have decided to let her go to you, but your stubborn faith in
what she could never be dissuaded me.
Do not get me wrong, I am too curious to see the
effect your blood will have on this young thing, but I do not hold the
ludicrous opinion from which you approached me in inquiring her. I have to admit it I have also kept her in a
bit of selfishness, as she does not possess the absolute darkness of the
African, and perhaps it is selfish that I will keep her to put her in a
position where I will have one less darkened possession to look at me.
While I hope there to be peace between us, please do
not bother me any further about any of my property, including Elizabeth.
I wish you well,
John Wales
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