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TEXAS STATE LIBRARY
No. 2777 1859 July 4, M. B. LAMAR, PUNTA ARENAS, [COSTA RICA] TOE. F. CONWAY, PFNTA ARENAS, [COSTA RICA] 0 •
Punta Arenas, 4th July 1859.
Dear Conway,
I may not he able to see you again bPfore I shall have to leave on the Steamer Columbus; but I wish to drop you one or two words by way of admonition and arhise. - Abstain from all unsea- sonable mirth, jocularity, and levity. Tell no anecdotes; act with sedateness, grm·ity, and quirt dignity; but at the same time be polite, courteous, and affectionate in your manner towar(ls all with whom you may have to do. And abo~'e all, I do most solemny entreat you not to drink one solitary drop of any intoxicating liquors. You may take Claret at your meals; but even this with moderation. Follow these counsels and you will secure the simpathies .and good desires of many who ham been };our persecutors. I ham bPen reproached by some of my own countrymen for having- stopped here on your account. But Sir, how could I as an American, abandon one of my own country- men in trouble and misfortw1e 1 in a foreign land, where there were so many to cry-out against him, and so few to stand up for him. I am no apologist for crime; nor ham I been at all disposed to sustain and protect you in the wrong. I have only endearnuml to see that you might have a fair trial and not be sacrificed to pas>'ion, prejudice and violence on account .of your nationality. This is all that I ham sought; it was all that you desired or your case required; and I do not sec how I could have done less, without falling short of my duty as an Ameri- can. - I coumeled - not with you, but with others - against your flight; for I thought there was no real necessity for it. All the testi- rno11y given in the ease, goPs to estahli:.;h the fact that the unfortunate affair was entirely accidental, growing out of a momentary indiscre- tion in which others were al~o inrnlvecl, and without the slightesrt in- tention on your part of doing injury to any one; and especially to the unhappy vidim with whom you had - as the te;;timony 1iroves - been 011 friemlly and social tPrms. I believe thf public is 110w settling down to this opi11ion; am\ I h,we great confidence that the affair will he viewed in the same light hy the higher tribunals, wlwn it shall be brought before them. You will probably be taken very soon to San Jose, where the whole easP will undergo a new i1westigation. In the mean time, I want you to be quiet, patient and resigned under all cir- (·1t111~tanccs. }lake 110 eomplai11t of hard usage or any thing else. :--honld slecpi11g with closed doors become oppressive and dangerous to health, your lawyPr may perhaps be able to so reprpi:;ent the matter to the Court as to obtain relirl'. You will necessarily haYe to encounter some suffi11g [sic] but I haw great con tidPnce, as I haw alrrady expressed in the final, farnrable krmination of your case. ln the last resort - the sentence of the court - ,rhaterf'r it mav he - will ha,·e to be approwd by the Chief Exl•eutire; and I kno\\~l'rr:-i(h•nt Mora to be a dispasionate and reasonable man. He is not vindicti,·e nor inveterate; all(] I have e,·ery rra,:on to lH•liPrr, that in taking hi" final action in
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