* "The attempt through the wife of a loyalist to bribe a member of Congress to aid in uniting the Colonies to the mother country, proved of incalculable service in recalling the doubting and irresolute whigs to a sense of duty. The story, and the noble reply, were repeated from mouth to mouth; and from the hour it was known, the whigs had won—the tories lost—the future empire."—Sabine's American Loyalists.
Congress issued a declaration condemning the daring and atrocious attempts made to corrupt their integrity, and declaring it incompatible with their honor to hold any manner of correspondence with the said George Johnstone. As may be imagined, disagreeable consequences ensued, which were severely felt by Mrs. Ferguson. As soon as she saw the article in Towne's Evening Post, which reached her at Graeme Park, July 26th, 1778, she addressed a letter of remonstrance to General Reed, bitterly complaining of having been exhibited in the newspapers as a mere emissary of the commissioners. "I own I find it hard," she says, "knowing the uncorruptness of my heart, to be held out to the public as a tool to the commissioners. But the impression is now made, and it is too late to recall it. How far, at this critical juncture of time, this affair may injure my property, is uncertain; that, I assure you, is but a secondary thought." *
* Letter published in the Remembrancer, vol. vi.
It appears evident that Mrs. Ferguson did not act this part in any expectation of deriving advantage for herself. Her associations and connections being chiefly with the royalists, it was natural that her opinions should be influenced by theirs; but her desire for the good of the country was undoubtedly disinterested. After the return of Governor Johnstone to England, he ventured to deny the charge preferred in the resolutions of Congress, by a letter published in Rivington's Gazette; and in a speech in November in the House of Commons, boldly asserted the falsehood of the statement made by General Reed. His denial no sooner reached America, than Mrs. Ferguson, anxious that justice should be done to all parties, published her narrative of the transaction, confirmed by her oath. The excellence of the motives which had actuated her in consenting to act as Johnstone's confidential agent, is sufficiently apparent in the spirit she now exhibited.
"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. On that head I shall say no more, but leave it to any person of common sense to determine, if I had any views of that kind, whether I should, in so full and solemn a manner, call in question what Mr. Johnstone has asserted in the House of Commons. A proceeding of this kind must totally exclude all avenues of favor from that quarter, were there ever any expected, which I solemnly declare never was the case. If this account should ever have the honor to be glanced over by the eye of Governor Johnstone, I know not in what medium he may view it. It is possible that the multiplicity of ideas, which may be supposed to pass through the brain of a politician in the course of a few months, may have jostled the whole transaction out of his memory. Should this be the case, insignificant and contemptible as I may appear to him, I believe there are two or three people in Britain who will venture to tell him, in all his plenitude of power, that they believe I would not set my hand to an untruth."
Mrs. Ferguson's poetical talent has been mentioned. Her verses were said to possess vigor and measure, but to lack melody, while her prose writings indicated both genius and knowledge. She was well read in polemical divinity, and a firm believer in the doctrines of revelation. She is said to have transcribed the whole Bible, to impress its contents more deeply upon her mind; hence the facility with which she would select appropriate passages to illustrate or adorn the subjects of her writings or conversation.
She had no children, but adopted the son and daughter of one of her sisters, who on her deathbed committed them to her care. The nephew, an accomplished scholar and gentleman, was till his death a lieutenant in the British army.
The talents and attainments of Mrs. Ferguson, her virtues, elevated and invigorated by Christian faith, her independence and integrity of character, and her benevolent feeling for others—endeared her name to a large circle of friends. Yet her life appears to have been one darkened by sorrow. In her later years the reduction of her income diminished her means of usefulness; but she would not permit any privations to which she found it necessary to submit, to be a source of unhappiness.
She died at the house of a friend near Graeme Park, on the twenty-third of February, 1801, in the sixty-second year of her age.