Tocqueville and Beaumont in Philadelphia: Their Interest in the Society of Friends

54Bulletin of Friends Historical Association merely a synonym for conscience? Or were they used with some foreshadowing of the very special sense in which Friends have come to employ them? The distinction is, of course, vital. As has been indicated, I have done the first mile of research; now let a better qualified person do the second. Tocqueville and Beaumont in Philadelphia: Their Interest in the Society of Friends By Arthur W. Silver* IN HIS scholarly study of Alexis de Tocqueville and Gustave de Beaumont in America1 George Wilson Pierson raises the question whether the two young men secured any letters of introduction from Lafayette, the Hero of Two Worlds and the cousin of Beaumont. These two men were totally unsympathetic with Lafayette politically after his part in the July Revolution of 1830, but realized the value of letters from him on any visit to America. They had therefore "pocketed their pride" and solicited letters which Lafayette apparently forgot to leave for young Beaumont to pick up.2 But eventually the Hero remembered and gave them at least one letter. It was addressed to Samuel R. Wood, the Warden of Eastern Penitentiary.3 This letter was found in a scrapbook collected by Wood's niece, Mary Richardson.4 It is dated March 28, 1831, only five * Arthur W. Silver is a member of the Department of History, Temple University. 1 Tocqueville and Beaumont in America (New York, 1938) . 2 See Pierson, p. 36. A frantic letter by someone in Lafayette's household to James Fenimore Cooper, then in Paris, on behalf of letters for the young men is the only intervention cited. 3 Samuel R. Wood (1791-1858), a Friend, was long a member of the Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons. He was also a member of the board of commissioners which built Eastern Penitentiary, and was selected by the Prison Society to lobby with the legislature in 1828-29 to secure the final adoption of the "Pennsylvania system." He was Warden from 1829 to 1840. (Data from family papers; Harry Elmer Barnes The Evolution of PenoL·gy in Pennsylvania [Indianapolis, 1927] p. 159; N. K. Teeters, They Were in Prison [Philadelphia, 1937]. My wife, Marion Rhoads Silver, has his portrait with a picture of Eastern Penitentiary in the background. 4 It is in the possession of her great-niece, my wife. Notes and Documents55 days before the two young men were to sail on the Havre. How well acquainted Lafayette and Wood were is unknown. The letter seems, however, to be little more than a mere formal introduction. It was folded, but without the usual outer address, on a single sheet of paper and reads as follows: Paris, March 28, 1831. My dear Sir: Permit me to introduce to you MM. de Tocqueville and Beaumont two french Gentlemen who Have offered to go over to the United States in quest of information relative to the penitentary Reforming System. Their plan Has Been adopted By Government Under whose auspices they undertake the philanthropic Voyage, to whom can I Better Recommend them than to you, my dear Sir, to your patronage, your lessons, your experience, your Benevolent High minded feelings? I am Happy in the opportunity to protest the affectionate [?] regards of Your sincere friend Lafayette. There actually seems to have been some rivalry between two groups of philanthropists of Philadelphia, each trying to monopolize the attention of the two young French investigators . These two factions were the theorists and the practical men, but both groups were equally enthusiastic over the new Eastern Penitentiary. Which group succeeded is not clear. But Samuel R. Wood, one of the practical men, was so eager to make their acquaintance that he went to the French Consul a week before the arrival of the young Frenchmen and asked "to be notified the very instant of our arrival in this city," according to a letter of Tocqueville to his sister.5 In any case, they became well acquainted with him and seem to have not only consulted him about various matters within his professional purview, but also to have found in him an interesting source of information about the Society of Friends...