Letter from Calvin Fairbank.
Dear Douglass:—
I am still in health, and though, as it appears, I am forgotten by the friends of the Anti-Slavery cause, in the North and East. I have the utmost confidence in the principles they teach. I do not intend to complain for being neglected; for I know the many outlets for their money, and the calls upon their time. I have felt much discouragement; three months in jail, and rolling the ball alone. but I am not without friends. I hope, after all, to be protected against the "Despotism of America," by the friends from Cincinnati, Ohio. Court will sit on the 23d inst. Mr. Lovell H. Rosseau, my attorney, informed me yesterday that Dr. Brisbane of CincinnatiBrisbane, William Henry

William Henry Brisbane (c.1803–78), a slaveholding Baptist minister and religious editor from South Carolina. He moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, around 1839 and emancipated two of the three slaves he brought with him, the third having died. Brisbane later tried to buy back the slaves he had sold to his brother-in-law, having resolved to free them too. Brisbane enlisted in the abolitionist cause, constructing Biblical arguments against slavery, as he had earlier constructed Biblical defenses of slavery, some written for the Charleston Mercury. He also wrote a few novels. In 1855 he moved to Madison, Wisconsin, where he became chief clerk of the state senate and pastor of the Baptist church. During the Civil War he was appointed one of the Direct Tax Commissioners for South Carolina. A Letter from William Henry Brisbane to the Baptist Denomination in South Carolina (Cincinnati, O., 1840); idem, Slaveholding Examined in the Light of the Holy Bible (Philadelphia, 1847); idem, Speech of the Rev. Wm. H. Brisbane, Lately A Slaveholder in South Carolina; Containing an Account of the Change in his Views on the Subject of Slavery (Hartford, Conn., 1840); ACAB. 1 : 378. would see that bail is secured before Court. In such case, I shall be compelled to go into trial in May or June, unless the money should be made up again. I do not think there is much danger in coming to trial, after an opportunity to arrange my testimony.
I hope for the best. "Duty must be done, though the heart break." I have no inclination to put off the cause of my imprisonment unto any one, nor to acknowledge myself deceived with regard to the ground upon which I fight.

I think I can speak the truth, and say, "Though all men forsake thee, yet will I not forsake thee." I know of but one rule - "but one lamp, by which my feet are guided"—that
is not "the lamp of experience," but truth as it appears irresistible in the volume of nature. I am not afraid to die. It does not take long. " Any one can die:"—that's nothing. Let me die, but I do not wish to be ruled over by a master. Let me be neglected, I shall not complain. If the friends do not feel like helping me, like caring for me, truth is no less precious though its standard-bearers should desert me. However, I am not worth troubling any one's mind with—I feel the last of all the disciples. I hope to see you again. Whether I do or not—for the present. "Good bye."
I remain yours for the slave,
CALVIN FAIRBANKFairbank, Calvin

Born in Wyoming County, New York, the Reverend Calvin Fairbank (1816–98) was a Methodist preacher and abolitionist in Jeffersonville, Indiana. There, he helped forty- seven fugitive slaves escape from Kentucky. Later caught and sentenced to 300 lashes, he also served a four-year prison term. Undeterred, Fairbank resumed his Underground Railroad activities. He was arrested again in 1852 and sentenced to fifteen years in a Kentucky prison for another attempted slave rescue. Finally, in early 1864, Kentucky’s acting governor, Richard T. Jacob, pardoned and released Fairbank, who subsequently returned to upstate New York. Calvin Fairbank, Rev. Calvin Fairbank during Slavery Times(1890; New York, 1969), 3, 157, 184, 186, 191; Siebert, Underground Railroad from Slavery to Freedom, 157–59. .
Louisville Jail, Feb. 4th, 1852.