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APPENvIZ. 393
LETTER FROM PROF. WEBSTER TO REV. FRANCIS PARKMAN,
S. T. D.
The following letter was intrusted by Prof. Webster. before his execution,
to the
Rev. Dr. Putnam, and by him communicated for publication to the Boston
Daily Evening
Transcript. immediately after the execution It was published only after
consent
obtained from the reverend gentleman to whom it was addressed.-REP.
Boston, August 6, 1850.
Rev. Dr. Parkman:
Dear Sir -I cannot leave this world in the peace of mind for which
I pray, without addressing you as the head of that family which I have
so deeply injured and afflicted, to make known to you and them the
bitter anguish of soul, the sincere contrition and penitence, I have felt
at having been the cause of the affliction under which you and they have
been called to mourn. I can offer no excuse for my wicked and fatal
ebullition of passion but what you already know, nor would I attempt
to palliate it.
I had never, until the two or three last interviews with your brother,
felt towards him anything but gratitude for his many acts of kindness
and friendship. That I should have allowed the feelings excited on
those occasions to have overpowered me so as to involve the life of
your brother and my own temporal and eternal welfare, I can, even now,
hardly realize.
I may not receive from you forgiveness in tYws world, yet I cannot
but hope and believe you will think of me with compassion, and remem-
ber me in your prayers to Him who will not turn away from the humble
and repentant. Had I many lives, with what joy would I lay them all
down, could I in the least atone for the injury I have done, or alleviate
the affliction I have caused! but I can now only pray for forgiveness
for myself and for every consolation and blessing upon every member
of your family.
In justice to those dearest to me, I beg to assure you, and I entreat
you to believe me, no one of my family had the slightest doubt of my
entire innocence up to the moment when the contrary was communicated
to them by Dr. Putnam. That they have your sincere pity and sym-
pathy, I feel assured.
There is no family towards every member of which I have always
felt a greater degree of respect and regard than that of which you are
now the head. From more than one I have received repeated acts of
friendship and kindness, for which I have ever been and am most truly
grateful.
Towards yourself, in particular, have not only my own feelings been
those of the most sincere regard and gratitude, but every individual
of my family has felt towards you that you were their pastor and friend.
Often has my wife recalled the interest you took in her from her first
becoming your parishioner, and often has she spoken, with feelings of
deep gratitude, of the influence of your public ministrations and of
your private instructions and conversations, and of your direction of her
inquiries and reading in what related to her religious views. These she
has often recalled and referred to, as having firmly established the
religious faith and trust which are now such sources of consolation and
support to her and our children, as well as to myself.
Nothing that has occurred has weakened these feelings; and, although
those I leave behind me may not meet you without the keenest anguish,
I trust you will exonerate them from any participation in, or knowledge
of. their father's sin, up to the moment I have mentioned. And may
you remember them in your prayers to the Father of the fatherless and
the widow's God!
I beg you, my dear sir, to consider this strictly a private letter, and by
no means to give it publicity; at, the same time, I will request you to
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