Cambridge, July 28, 1864,
My dear Motley, — I
write you on a matter of business. You may have heard that Norton and I have
undertaken to edit the North American— a rather Sisyphian job, you will say.
It wanted three chief elements to be successful. It wasn't thoroughly, that is,
thick and thinly, loyal, it wasn't lively, and it had no particular opinions on
any particular subject.
It was an eminently
safe periodical, and accordingly was in great danger of running aground. It was
an easy matter, of course, to make it loyal — even to give it opinions (such as
they were), but to make it alive is more difficult. Perhaps the day of the
quarterlies is gone by, and those megatheria of letters may be in the mere
course of nature withdrawing to their last swamps to die in peace. Anyhow, here
we are with our megatherium on our hands, and we must strive to find what will
fill his huge belly, and keep him alive a little longer. You see what's coming.
Pray imagine all the fine speeches and God-bless-your-honours, and let me
proceed at once to hold out the inevitable hat. Couldn't you write us an
article now and then? It would be a great help to us, and you shall have carte
blanche as to subject. Couldn't you write on the natural history of that
diplomatic cuttlefish of Schleswig-Holstein without forfeiting your ministerial
equanimity? The creature has be-muddled himself with such a cloud of ink that
he is almost indiscernable to the laic eye. Or on recent German literature? Or
on Austria and its resources? Or, in short, on anything that may be solemn in
topic and entertaining in treatment? Our pay isn't much, but you shall have
five dollars a page, and the object is, in a sense, patriotic. If the thought
be dreadful, see if you can't find also something pleasing in it, as Young
managed to do in "Eternity." Imagine the difference in the tone of
the Review. If you are a contributor, of course it will always be
"Our amiable and accomplished minister at the Court of Vienna, who unites
in himself," etc., etc., etc.; or else, "In such a state of affairs
it was the misfortune of this country to be represented at Vienna by a minister
as learned in Low Dutch as he was ignorant of high statesmanship," etc.,
etc. I pull my beaver over my eyes and mutter "Bewa-r-re!" etc.
But, seriously, you can help us a great deal, and I really do not care what you
write about if you will only write.
As to our situation
here, you are doubtless well informed. My own feeling has always been
confident, and it is now hopeful. If Mr. Lincoln is re-chosen, I think the war
will soon be over. If not, there will be attempts at negotiation during which
the rebels will recover breath, and then war again with more chances in their
favour. Just now everything looks well. The real campaign is clearly in
Georgia, and Grant has skilfully turned all eyes to Virginia by taking the
command there in person. Sherman is a very able man, in dead earnest, and with
a more powerful army than that of Virginia. It is true that the mercantile
classes are longing for peace, but I believe the people are more firm than
ever. So far as I can see, the opposition to Mr. Lincoln is both selfish and
factious, but it is much in favour of the right side that the Democratic Party
have literally not so much as a single plank of principle to float on, and the
sea runs high. They don't know what they are in favour of — hardly what they
think it safe to be against. And I doubt if they will gain much by going into an
election on negatives. I attach some importance to the peace negotiation at
Niagara (ludicrous as it was) as an indication of despair on the part of the
rebels, especially as it was almost coincident with Clanricarde's movement in
the House of Lords. Don't be alarmed about Washington. The noise made about it
by the Copperheads is enough to show there is nothing dangerous in any rebel
movements in that direction. I have no doubt that Washington is as safe as
Vienna. What the Fremont defection may accomplish I can't say, but I have
little fear from it. Its strength lies solely among our German Radicals, the
most impracticable of mankind. If our population had been as homogeneous as
during the Revolutionary war, our troubles would have been over in a year. All our
foreign trading population have no fatherland but the till, and have done their
best to destroy our credit. All our snobs, too, are Secesh. But I always think
of Virgil's
“Pur a noi converrà vincer la punga
. . . se non — tal ne s' offerse.”
We have the promise
of God's Word and God's nature on our side. Moreover, I have never believed, do
not now believe, in the possibility of separation. The instinct of the people
on both sides is against it. Is not the "coup de grace" of the
Alabama refreshing? That an American sloop of war should sink a British
ship of equal force, manned by British sailors and armed with British guns in
the British Channel! There is something to make John Bull reflect.
Now do write
something for us, if you can, and with kindest remembrances to Mrs. Motley,
Believe me always,
Cordially yours,
J. R. Lowell.
SOURCE: Charles Eliot Norton, Editor, Letters of
James Russell Lowell, Volume 1, p. 374-8
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