xxxii 
A FEW MEMOIRS OF 
guish facts, but certainly cannot perceive causes or divine motives and 
intentions. 
I do not even ask charity; I only implore silence. Let the good 
that I have done, if any, be interred with my bones j let the evil also. 
For the evil, I can say positively, is such as can do no evil after me. 
I have taught, I have inculcated, I have put forth nothing which I did 
not believe to be good and true. In all my life I have written no 
line of which I am ashamed—no word which I desire to blot. 
I have done many things wrongly, many things of which I am 
ashamed, many things of which I have sincerely repented, many 
things, under the pressure of poverty and necessity, to which I am not 
accustomed by my education, which, I hope, I should not do again 
under any temptation. 
I am very sorry. I have been weak at times, and have fallen— 
who has not done so ? 
For justice sake, for charity’s sake, for God’s sake, let me rest. I 
bear an honorable name; I have striven hard, in great trial, in great 
temptation, in a foreign country, in a false position, among men who 
did not, perhaps could not, sympathize with me, to keep it honorable. 
As you would have your own names honored, and your sons preserve 
them to you, I charge you, do not dishonor mine. 
Few will miss me when I am gone; probably none lament me— 
so be it! Only, I implore you, do not misrepresent and malign me. 
Having said this, I have said nearly all—one word more only—if, 
as I presume will be the case, my earnest and hopeful appeal for re¬ 
pose be disregarded—if the vultures of the Press pounce on my cold 
remains, to tear through them the heartstrings of my living relatives 
—to blazon forth all my misdeeds in unblushing colors to the sun— 
let none of my friends—if I have a friend—stand forth to defend me. 
Defence only provokes bitterer attacks, and gives a keener tooth to 
scandal. 
I die forgiving every man who has wronged me, asking forgiveness 
of every man whom I have wronged. I have atoned so far as I know, 
or can atone, for every wrong I have ever done. 
I leave the means, I believe, if they be carefully managed, to pay 
every thing that I owe, and perhaps to leave a small surplus. I never 
shrank, while I was alive, from meeting the consequences of my deeds, 
face to face. I never said a word to a man’s back which I would not 
or did not say to his face. 
Remember now, all you that would assail me, that rmj hack is 
turned , forever—that henceforth, forever, I can disprove no slander 
