POLITICAL GOSSIP IN WASHINGTON, 1838 LETTER DESCRIBING CLAY, BUCHANAN, ADAMS, AND CONGRESSIONAL DRINKING

Autograph letter signed by Henry Simpson Mesinger Farnam (1815-1878) to his friend and former business partner George Henry Hough Silsby (1817-1892). Washington, D.C., 23 April 1838. 4 pages, 7 1/2 x 10 in.. Farnam and Silsby co-published Star in the East, a religious newspaper out of Concord, New Hampshire that presumably failed during the Panic of 1837.

Written during the financial depression that followed the widespread bank failures of the previous year, this lively letter offers vivid observations and pointed gossip about several prominent political figures of the day, including Henry Clay, James Buchanan, and John Quincy Adams. Farnam writes admiringly of Senators Clay and Buchanan, describing Clay as a “noble-looking fellow” whose “eloquence when speaking exceeds all the lofty opinions [I] had ever formed…of his greatness as an orator and debater.” Buchanan, too, he regards as “one of the finest speakers in the Senate.” He also expresses admiration for the forceful manner in which “Old Johnny Q.”—John Quincy Adams—addresses his fellow congressmen.

Not all of Farnam’s observations are so complimentary. He relates colorful anecdotes about the heavy drinking common among many members of Congress, remarking that certain “Senators and Reps liquor up and lay in.” One unnamed representative, he reports, “got his feet knocked under him on Pennsylvania Avenue by an ungrateful little fellow by the name of alcohol whom he had very hospitably given shelter in his head.” Another, after overindulging, “fell into the canal, which probably cooled him off a little!” Farnam also notes other social vices of the capital, commenting on the conspicuous presence of prostitution in the city and describing “the great quantity of frail sisters who promenade the streets both day and night.”

Amid these observations of Washington society, Farnam recounts his own leisure activities, including visits to the theatre, where he attended performances by the celebrated Shakespearean actors Edwin Forrest (1806–1872) and Junius Brutus Booth (1796–1852), the father of John Wilkes Booth. Farnam describes the elder Booth as “a small man but…a powerful actor,” a remark that captures the actor’s widely admired stage presence.

Although he appears to enjoy the bustle and intrigue of Washington life, Farnam writes that he will soon be compelled to “make tracks to some other region” in search of a more “permanent situation” of employment. He reflects nostalgically on former colleagues at the Star in the East and on the town of Concord itself, though he does not expect to return soon. According to later records, Farnam remained in Washington into the early 1840s; interestingly, census returns place a Henry S. M. Farnam back in Concord by 1867, working as a dry-goods merchant.

Beyond its personal tone, the letter provides a vivid snapshot of life in Washington, D.C. during the turbulent late 1830s. Written in the wake of the Panic of 1837, it reflects the uneasy atmosphere of political debate, economic uncertainty, and social spectacle that characterized the capital during this period. Farnam’s candid commentary on legislators, urban vice, theatre culture, and everyday life offers a rare, informal perspective on the personalities and rhythms of Washington at a moment when the nation was grappling with one of the most severe financial crises of the nineteenth century.

A richly detailed and entertaining window onto the political and social world of Washington, D.C., in the late 1830s.