To a future Confederate spy

Los 313
16.06.2023 10:00UTC -05:00
Classic
Startpreis
$ 100
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
VeranstaltungsortVereinigten Staaten, New York
Archiv
Die Auktion ist abgeschlossen. Es können keine Gebote mehr abgegeben werden.
Archive
ID 967513
Los 313 | To a future Confederate spy
Schätzwert
$ 3 000 – 5 000
HAWTHORNE, Nathaniel (1804-1864). Autograph letter signed ("Nathl Hawthorne") to George N. Sanders, "U.S. Consulate," Liverpool, 5 May 1854.

One page, 202 x 126mm, recipient's docket in upper margin (mild toning, a few mounting remnants on verso).

Hawthorne writes to his friend and London counterpart, George N. Sanders, who would later serve as a Confederate spy and be implicated by some as the driving force behind the Lincoln assassination. But at this time, Sanders (1812-1873) was a fellow political appointee serving as the United States Consul in London, appointed by Hawthorne's old college friend, President Franklin Pierce. Here, Hawthorne informs Sanders that, "The bearer, Captain J. I . Marshall, owing to unforeseen circumstances, is in want of twenty pounds. If you will be kind enough to advance it to him, your draft to that amount on me shall be duly honored at sight." He adds a short postscript offering his hope "to have the pleasure of seeing you in London in the course of this month."

Long before his work for the Confederacy, Sanders proved a controversial figure. Hawthorne himself remarked that "some men possessed a kind of magnetic influence over him which he could not resist, however it might lead him." A leading figure in the "Young America" faction that gripped Democratic politics in the 1830s and 1840s, he advocated U.S. intervention in foreign affairs as a means to promote free, republican governments througout the world. By the time Hawthorne wrote the present letter to Sanders, the Senate had failed to confirm his appointment as consul, but Sanders remained in London where he blatantly meddled in the affairs of other nations, most notably an open letter advocating the assassination of Napoleon III. (See Melinda Janye Squires, The Controversial Career of George Nicholas Sanders. Master of Arts Thesis, Western Kentucky University, August 2000). Not published in Letters, Centennial Edition.
Adresse der Versteigerung CHRISTIE'S
20 Rockefeller Plaza
10020 New York
Vereinigten Staaten
Vorschau
16.06.2023
Telefon +1 212 636 2000
Fax +1 212 636 4930
E-Mail
NutzungsbedingungenNutzungsbedingungen
Versand Postdienst
Kurierdienst
Selbstabholung
Zahlungsarten Banküberweisung
GeschäftszeitenGeschäftszeiten
Mo 09:30 – 17:00   
Di 09:30 – 17:00   
Mi 09:30 – 17:00   
Do 09:30 – 17:00   
Fr 09:30 – 17:00   
Sa geschlossen
So geschlossen

Mehr von Creator

Mosses from an old Manse, inscribed by Sophia Hawthorne
Mosses from an old Manse, inscribed by Sophia Hawthorne
$3 000
Mudie’s Natural History of Birds
Mudie’s Natural History of Birds
$100
True Stories from History and Biography, The Snow-Image, and A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys
True Stories from History and Biography, The Snow-Image, and A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys
$100
On Franklin Pierce and his new office as U.S. Consul
On Franklin Pierce and his new office as U.S. Consul
$1 000
Inchiquin, 1810
Inchiquin, 1810
$100
Thanking his friend for his financial support
Thanking his friend for his financial support
$5 000
Tanglewood Tales
Tanglewood Tales
$100
The Marble Faun, inscribed by Pierce
The Marble Faun, inscribed by Pierce
$2 000

Verwandte Begriffe