Shady Hill, Cambridge, 30 August, 1862.
My Dear Miss Meta,
— . . . Spite of all mismanagement, and spite of all reverses, our cause is, I
believe, advancing. The autumn months show great military activity; and the
people throughout the North are more and more resolved to accomplish the work
they have to do. The spirit, the patience, the energy, and the good sense of
our people are worthy of the highest admiration. I wish you could see and feel,
as we do, this truly magnificent display of national character and feeling. You
would be proud with us, of it all. Do not believe what you see in the “Times,”
or in other papers, of discord or of want of heart, or failure of resolution at
the North. We mean to save the Union and to establish the Government of the
United States over the whole country; — we mean to do this for the sake of
Liberty and of civilization, and in doing it the slavery of the black race in
America will come to an end.
I am sorry for, but not surprised at, the general misconception
abroad of our position, our purposes, and our principles. We do enough foolish
and wrong things, and we say enough, to lead astray any one who cannot see
through the outside to the deeper truths below, and who has not sympathy with
our institutions and our better hopes and intentions. . . .
SOURCE: Sara Norton and M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Letters
of Charles Eliot Norton, Volume 1, p. 255-6
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