Statesman, Political Exile, Attorney, and Queen's Counsel, Judah Benjamin Arranges a Meeting

The ex-Attorney General, ex-Secretary of War, and ex-Secretary of State of the defunct Confederate States of America, now in the person of Queen’s Counsel, Judah P. Benjamin, attempts to make an appointment with one Mrs. V.N. Moore. He will write her in a few days, he says, being that every moment of his time is booked a week ahead, to set up a time – and to save her having to come around to his legal offices at the Inner Temple. That spot, of course, refers to London’s famous Inns of Court – those buildings where barristers traditionally lodged, trained and carried on their profession.

Benjamin's success - as a statesman, attorney and political exile - was remarkable by anyone's standards; but that he was unabashedly a Jew, operating at a time when, and in circles where, anti-Semitism was rife, makes his accomplishments almost incredible.

Autograph Letter Signed (“J.P. Benjamin”), 2 pages, recto and verso, octavo, no place, June 26, 1873. To Mrs. V.N. Moore.