The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1891-09-24

: first official letter by Hawthorne. He
had arrived at Liverpool on the
: steamer "Niagara,n from Halifax,
! July Is. The exact date Of his TAX
ing possession Of the office is not ac-
, cessible; either at the consulate Or in
! any Of his Biographies This letter
p addressed 10 Col. Thomas AapmWail
, then United States consul, at London,
! and dated Liverpool, / August,
, 1853" is as follows:
, Dear Sir:-I have been applied to
, by man named Hector Frazier for
J means to enable him to reach Cardiff
; to rejoin his vessel, the rs. V. Given"
He states that he has two sums of f10
/ and CO in your hands belonging to
him, and wants to receive the former
| sum at Liverpool, to enable him to
pay his way at Cardiff, and requests
, me to write you for it. l am yours
, respectfully, n. HAWTHORNE,
BY III. j. Wilding.
The next letter is dated August 10,
: and has Hawthorne's neat autograph
! appended. The entire series COM
, prises reference to such details of con-
sulate duty as the hunting up of es-
trayed Americans, the Identified
ton of dead sailors and the SELL
ing or disposal of their effects, the
trial Of masters or seamen for misde-
meanors, and the like. Among them
all, but one recalls historic fact or an
incident of national concern. This one
is dated September |, 1854. 1t is an
application to the Bishop of Chester,
in behalf of Kentuckian named A.
j. Barry, who had come from America
to secure the remains of his father. for
the removal of the body of General
Jackson's former postmaster-gene
and Kentucky's chief justice, Hon.
William Taylor Barry, who had died
in Liverpool, and was inferred in st.
James cemetery, in August, 1885,
while Ell route to Madrid to represent
the United States as minister to
Spain.
The musty old record-book had
Wondrous fascination. L poured
over it for hours I'M
conscious of the temporarily
great who called, the certification of
invoices, or the interposition of the
governmental arm in behalf of the
ever coatless, always innocent and
eternally unfortunate American sailor.
One feature of all these letters was inn
pressive. Their brevity and straight
forwardness were remarkable. There
was no prollXity, no proffer of opinion, |
no assertion of their authors person.
ality. They marched straight to their
objective point and stopped short
there. And yet there was thread
Of the mellowest humor through |
them all, with here and there
hard and hideOus facts unpre-
tentiously marshaled, all the Steiner
for their gentle phrasing.
OF course there was a tradition at |
our Liverpool consulate that the veri-
table consular offices occupied by
Hawthorne had been located some
where in Liverpool. Official caution
would not permit a decided express
sion as to where that somewhere was.
No Liverpool business men knew.
The antiquarians have not recorded |
it. Literators and journalists have
if they ever knew. You
cannot find it in any of the Haw-
thorne biographies. But this vague
tradition pointed to the old 'sWash-
ington Buildings" venerable pile,
the lower story of the riverward side
of which forms huge Moorish piazza,
giving the name "Goree Piazza" to a
Misunderstanding portion of LiverpooPs
chief shipping thoroughfare.
TO this crumbling relic of Liver
POOLS old commercial days l fastened
with many misgivings. 1 CROPPED
through antique Railways, wains-
cotted with mahogany and black with
age; and climbed curious old stair
cases, foot worn deep in grooves, dan
gerOus with sudden turns and half
landings, and decorated with strange
ly carved ornaments and slender,
twisted balustrades. Huge knockers
barred transoms let slivers of light
through above them. These disclosed
many quaint metal relief of intag-
lilo Of rude design, set with unintelli-
gable purpose in corners, above doors,
upon beams, or in the yellow and
cracked ceilings. Wonderful old stuc-
Goes still cling in unexpected angles
and spaces; and huge brackets, like
those supporting the sign-posts Of an
cient inns, or for lamps and cumbrous
chandelier of Il later, though still an
cient, time. projected here and there
as tokens of the structures hale old
age. Thus up, up, up, | scrambled,
making hesitant inquiries in bare,
bleak Offices, where the oldest men L
ever saw seemed but wraiths, ghost
lily pantonimic of humans and affairs
in some far, forgotten time; away in
to the attic, to the caretaker's grin
ming wife; and then, with no clue to
what I sought, down again through
the labyrinth of halls and over the
ruinous stairways to the roaring of
the "lorries" in the street below.
Hating in bitter disappointment
on the first landing, door had
not previously seen stood open.
Some vagrant impulse babe me
enter, 1 found within it one desk,
two chairs and bluff, hearty,
weather-be Englishman, the sole
furnishings. But also saw over the
ancient fireplace an almost effaced
symbol ofmy own beloved land, which
had escaped all other eyes for thirty
five years. To me something like a
sudden glory enveloped lonely desk,
chairs, weather beaten Englishman
| and ancient fire-Dlace. for I stood