JS, Letter, , Hancock Co., IL, to , [, Hancock Co., IL], 22 June 1844; handwriting of John McEwan; signature of JS in handwriting of ; docket in handwriting of John McEwan; three pages; JS Collection, CHL.
I am informed this morning that some Gentleman has made affidavit that he had a private conversation with me in which I stated that I had Secret correspondence with you &c. If any person has been wicked enough to do this he is a perjured villian, for in the first place I do not suffer myself to hold private conversation with any stranger, and in the second place I have never even intimated any thing of the kind as having secret correspondence with your .
Our troubles are invariably brought upon us by falsehood & misrepresentations by designing men, we have ever held ourselves amenable to the law, and for myself Sir, I am ever ready to conform to and support the laws and constitution even at the expense of my life, I have never in the least offered any resistance to law, or lawful process which is a fact well known to the public, all of which circumstances make us the more anxious to have you come to and investigate the whole matter.
Now Sir is it not an easy matter to distinguish between those who have pledged themselves to exterminate innocent men, women and children, and those who have only stood in the<ir> own defence and in defence of their innocent families and that to in accordance with the constitution & laws of the as required by their oaths and as good and law abiding citizens.
In regard to the destruction of the press the truth only needs to be presented before your to satisfy you of the Justice of the proceedings. The press was established by a set of men who had already set themselves at defiance of the [p. [2]]