BIB_ID
106165
Accession number
MA 2439
Creator
Burke, Edmund, 1729-1797.
Display Date
1776 August 12.
Credit line
Gift of Mary Phelps Smith, 1965.
Description
1 item (2 pages) ; 22.6 x 18.5 cm
Notes
In The Correspondence of Edmund Burke, it is suggested that this letter is addressed to William Eden, Under-Secretary of State, and concerns the case of Thomas Connor (alias James Smith). Guttridge bases these identifications on other letters by Burke to Eden from the spring and summer of 1776. See pp. 251-252 and 287-288 in the Correspondence, cited below, for additional information.
Burke gives the place of writing as "Beconsfield," a spelling he regularly uses for "Beaconsfield."
Burke gives the place of writing as "Beconsfield," a spelling he regularly uses for "Beaconsfield."
Provenance
Gift of Mary Phelps Smith, 1965.
Summary
Concerning a petition about an Irishman sentenced to hang on Wednesday: "If the poor Man be innocent I do not know that it is worth while to hang him, though he is an Irishman. He certainly is in great danger from the Character of that Country, if not from his guilt; for he has neglected to make any application, even so far from the source of power as myself, until this time, at Beconsfield, two o Clock on Monday"; asking his correspondent for a "respite for this unfortunate wretch until further Enquiry can be made about his Case"; suggesting that "he might be as well employd in cleaning the Thames, on the principles & for the purposes of your Bill, as on the old Scheme, poisoning the air at Tyburn"; continuing "If there be any grounds for Mercy, either of total pardon or commutation of Punishment, the thing cannot be in better hands"; asking that the case receive immediate attention.
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