|
Part of the American
History & Genealogy Project |
Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson 1739 ~ 1801
Elevated by her talents and attainments to a position of great
influence and an intimacy with the great men of her time,
Elizabeth Fergusson's life appears to have been darkened by
sadness and the cloud of a charge of having attempted by bribery
to corrupt a general of the Continental Army. And yet when she
died, at sixty-three years of age, there was a wide circle of
adherents who believed' in her independence and integrity of
character.
She was born in 1739 and was the daughter of Doctor Thomas
Graeme, living in a palatial home in Philadelphia afterward
known as the Carpenter Mansion. When she was quite young her
mother's death called her to manage her father's house and to
preside at the entertainments given for his visitors. Later the
mansion became the headquarters of the literary coterie of that
day, with Miss Graeme as presiding genius. Her brilliant
intellect, her extensive and varied knowledge, her vivid fancy
and cultivated taste made her an authority on things literary
and political.
It was at one of these evenings that she first saw Hugh Henry
Fergusson, a young gentleman lately arrived in this country from
Scotland. They were pleased with each other at the first
interview being congenial in literary tastes and a love of
retirement. Their marriage took place in a few months,
notwithstanding the fact that Fergusson was ten years younger
than Miss Graeme. Not long after this event Doctor Graeme died
bequeathing to his daughter the country seat "Graeme Park," in
Montgomery County, which she had always loved. But the happiness
anticipated by Mrs. Fergusson in country seclusion and her books
was of brief duration. The contentions were increasing between
Great Britain and America and finally they resulted in the war
for independence. It being necessary for Mr. Fergusson to take
part with one or the other, he decided according to the
prejudices natural to his birth, and espoused the royal cause.
From this time on a separation took place between him and his
wife, she feeling unable to look upon the desolations and
miseries of her countrymen and have any sympathy with England.
In spite of this protested sympathy for the American cause, and
her secret acts of charity for the benefit of suffering American
soldiers and their wives, she was to be accused of trying to
purchase the close of the war for England. It happened in this
way: In Philadelphia she met Governor Johnson, one of the
commissioners sent under parliamentary authority to settle the
differences between Great Britain and America.
He expressed a particular anxiety to have the influence of
General Reed exerted toward ending the war, and asked Mrs.
Fergusson, should she see the General to convey the idea that
provided he could, "comfortably to his conscience and view of
things," exert his influence to settle the dispute "it might
command ten thousand guineas, and the best post in the
government." In reply to Mrs. Fergusson's question as to whether
General Reed would not look upon such a mode of obtaining his
influence as a bribe, Johnson immediately disclaimed any such
idea and said such a method of proceeding was common in all
negotiations; that one might honorably make it to a man's
interest to step forth in such a cause. In the end Mrs.
Fergusson seems to have been persuaded, and she sought out
General Reed, who on hearing the proposition brought by her from
Governor Johnson made the prompt and noble reply, "I am not
worth purchasing; but such as I am, the king of Great Britain is
not rich enough to do it."
General Reed laid before Congress both the written and verbal
communications of Governor Johnson, withholding, however, the
name of the lady. But of course an account of the transaction
was also published in the papers of the day and it was useless
to attempt concealment of her name; suspicion was at once
directed to her and her name was called for by a resolution of
the Executive Council of Pennsylvania. Congress issued a
declaration condemning the "daring and atrocious" attempts made
to corrupt its members and declaring it incompatible with their
honor to hold any manner of correspondence with the said George
Johnson.
Brilliant Elizabeth Fergusson reaped a harvest of censure and
humiliation. In a letter to General Reed, she says: "I own I
find it hard, knowing the un-corruptness of my heart to hold out
to the public as a tool of the commissioners. But the impression
is now made, and it is too late to recall it" And again from her
now impoverished estate she writes: ''Among the many mortifying
insinuations that have been hinted on the subject none has so
sensibly affected me as an intimation that some thought I acted
a part in consequence of certain expectations of a post or some
preferment from Mr. Johnstone to be conferred on the person
dearest to me on earth."
And so, a careless political transaction deprived this woman of
world-wide knowledge, of marked poetical talent and of a
beautiful and benevolent spirit, of all the influence she once
wielded so royally. She died at the house of a friend near
Graeme Park, on the twenty-third of February, 1801.
Women of
America
Source: The Part Taken by Women in
American History, By Mrs. John A. Logan, Published by The Perry-Nalle
Publishing Company, Wilmington, Delaware, 1912.
|