![[AMERICAN REVOLUTION]. BURKE, Edmund (1729-1797). Autograph letter signed ("Edm Burke"), TO HENRY LAURENS, Charles Street, [London], 27 February 1783. 1 page, bifolium, blank integral leaf, light spotting. Recipient's docket on verso of blank integral leaf. BURKE. Autograph letter signed in text ("Mr. Burke"), in third-person, to Henry Laurens, Charles Street, [London], [7 March 1783]. 1 page, bifolium, WITH LAURENS'S REPLY copied out below Burke's letter.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2010/NYR/2010_NYR_02361_0010_000(american_revolution_burke_edmund_autograph_letter_signed_to_henry_laur092143).jpg?w=1)
Property of the Brooklyn Historical Society, sold to benefit the collections fund
[AMERICAN REVOLUTION]. BURKE, Edmund (1729-1797). Autograph letter signed ("Edm Burke"), TO HENRY LAURENS, Charles Street, [London], 27 February 1783. 1 page, bifolium, blank integral leaf, light spotting. Recipient's docket on verso of blank integral leaf. BURKE. Autograph letter signed in text ("Mr. Burke"), in third-person, to Henry Laurens, Charles Street, [London], [7 March 1783]. 1 page, bifolium, WITH LAURENS'S REPLY copied out below Burke's letter.
Details
[AMERICAN REVOLUTION]. BURKE, Edmund (1729-1797). Autograph letter signed ("Edm Burke"), TO HENRY LAURENS, Charles Street, [London], 27 February 1783. 1 page, bifolium, blank integral leaf, light spotting. Recipient's docket on verso of blank integral leaf. BURKE. Autograph letter signed in text ("Mr. Burke"), in third-person, to Henry Laurens, Charles Street, [London], [7 March 1783]. 1 page, bifolium, WITH LAURENS'S REPLY copied out below Burke's letter.
"I SAW YOU A PRISONER IN THIS COUNTRY WITH AS MUCH RESPECT AS I NOW SEE YOU THE REPRESENTATIVE OF A SOVEREIGN STATE"
An emotional letter from the great Parliamentary champion of American independence, welcoming Laurens back to England for the first time since the American was released from the Tower of London. "I have once or twice sat down to write you at Bath;" Burke begins, "but the topics on which I could not think of you without touching would naturally be as affecting as they were glorious to you. My Letter is by me but I could not send it. Believe me Sir, I saw you a Prisoner in this Country with as much respect as I now see you the representative of a sovereign state. My regards for you then were great; & they can neither be encreased nor lessened by a change in your Situation. Be so good as to let me know where & when I may have the honour of half an hours conversation with you. The time shall be yours." The docket reads, "recd same day, and answd verbally immediately." Laurens was just as affected by his return. On 24 March 1783 he wrote Burke: "What can I say my Dr friend but what I have had cause to repeat a thousand times within nine Years past. 'I am sorry for it, but all will come right at last'" (quoted in Chesnutt and Hamer, eds., Papers of Henry Laurens, 16:170). Burke had been an outspoken critic of the North ministry's decision to hold Laurens in the Tower. The second letter in this lot is a short third-person note from Burke proposing to meet with Laurens the following morning. Together 2 items. (2)
"I SAW YOU A PRISONER IN THIS COUNTRY WITH AS MUCH RESPECT AS I NOW SEE YOU THE REPRESENTATIVE OF A SOVEREIGN STATE"
An emotional letter from the great Parliamentary champion of American independence, welcoming Laurens back to England for the first time since the American was released from the Tower of London. "I have once or twice sat down to write you at Bath;" Burke begins, "but the topics on which I could not think of you without touching would naturally be as affecting as they were glorious to you. My Letter is by me but I could not send it. Believe me Sir, I saw you a Prisoner in this Country with as much respect as I now see you the representative of a sovereign state. My regards for you then were great; & they can neither be encreased nor lessened by a change in your Situation. Be so good as to let me know where & when I may have the honour of half an hours conversation with you. The time shall be yours." The docket reads, "recd same day, and answd verbally immediately." Laurens was just as affected by his return. On 24 March 1783 he wrote Burke: "What can I say my Dr friend but what I have had cause to repeat a thousand times within nine Years past. 'I am sorry for it, but all will come right at last'" (quoted in Chesnutt and Hamer, eds., Papers of Henry Laurens, 16:170). Burke had been an outspoken critic of the North ministry's decision to hold Laurens in the Tower. The second letter in this lot is a short third-person note from Burke proposing to meet with Laurens the following morning. Together 2 items. (2)