Studies in American History 
247 
other purpose.^® In this he doubtless stated the case accu- 
rately. 
There were hints of a plot to rescue him, and the authori- 
ties were suspicious. It is now known that some of his north- 
ern friends, aided by adventurous spirits from Kansas, did 
arrange a scheme to free him and that on at least two occa- 
sions spies found their way into his cell to acquaint him with 
the details of their plan. He gave them no encouragement, 
however, and the plan was finally abandoned because of the 
difficulties and dangers to be overcome.'^” 
He looked upon himself as a martyr and said in a letter 
written just a few days before his death: ‘T think I feel as 
happy as Paul did when he lay in prison. He knew that if 
they killed him it would greatly advance the cause of Christ ; 
that was the reason he rejoiced so. On that same ground T 
do rejoice.'” In the same letter he said: ‘T have no regret 
for the transaction for which I am condemned. I went against 
the laws of men it is true but ‘whether it is right to obey God 
or men, judge ye.' A little earlier he had written: ‘T 
neither feel mortified, degraded, nor in the least ashamed of 
my imprisonment, my chains, or near prospect of death by 
hanging. . . . No part of my life has been more hap- 
pily spent than that I have spent here.''^^ On still another 
occasion he said, ‘T feel no consciousness of guilt in the mat- 
ter.''^^ On November 17, he wrote to a young friend: “Men 
cannot imprison or chain or hang the soul. I go joyfully in 
behalf of millions that ‘have no rights' that this great and 
glorious Christian Republic ‘is bound to respect' — a quo- 
tation in part from the Bred Scott decision. The sentiments 
here expressed are those of the famous song that everyone 
knows. Only four days before his execution he wrote, “It 
is a great comfort to feel assured that I am permitted to die 
for a cause.''^® In his last letter to his family he urged them 
November 12, 1859, quoted in Redpath, op. cit., 351. 
■‘o Villard, op. dt., 511 ff. 
■*1 Letter to Rev. Mr. McFarland, November 23, 1859, in Sanborn, op. cit., 598, 599 ; 
Redpath, op. cit., 359. 
Letter to his cousin. Rev, Mr. Humphrey, November 19, 1859, in Sanborn, op. cit., 
594 . 
Letter to his wife and children, October 31, 1859, in ibid,, 579. 
Letter to T. B. Musgrave, November 17, 1859, in ibid., 593, 
Letter to Judge Tilden, November 30, 1859, in Redpatt, op. cit., 364. 
