BosTON, 29 October, 1861.
MY DEAR MR. ADAMS, – I had much pleasure in receiving yours
of the 5th of October by the last steamer. The fair prospect, to which you
allude, as produced by the prosperous turn of things here, is a little clouded
by the news, which this steamer will carry to you of another reverse to our
arms near Leesburg. It seems to have been a sad blundering piece of business.
There is a general willingness to lay the blame on poor Colonel Baker. Les
morts, aussi bien que les absens, ont toujours tort. The great naval
expedition has sailed from Fortress Monroe. Its success, if it fully succeeds,
will be all important, — and its failure proportionately disastrous. Mr. de
Stoeckel sat half an hour with me today. He talked in the sense of Prince
Gortschakoff's letter; but rather gloomily of our cause. He distrusts the
ability of McClellan to handle the large army under his command, and thinks
General Scott, tho’ his faculties are unimpaired, pretty nearly “used up”; – I
am sorry to use that cant phrase of the noble old chief. Stoeckel says that
France and England have intimated to our Government, that the domestic
interests of their subjects absolutely require, that the supply of cotton
should not be much longer obstructed, and that if the present state of things
continues, they shall be compelled, with great reluctance, to take measures for
the relief of their subjects, who, according to Stoeckel, will otherwise starve
or rebel; and of course the latter. He says he knows these intimations
have been made. I read to Stoeckel a part of your letter, — not of course that
which you wrote in confidence. He said, a propos of the European
Complications, that Prince Gortschakoff wrote him that they were numerous and
grave; that Russia could not prevent their existence, but thus far had been
able to prevent their leading to war; and that as this season had passed
without a rupture, and Winter was at hand, Peace was sure to be preserved, at
least till next year. Baron Brunnow writes to Stoeckel, that John Bull affects
to weep from sympathy, when brother Jonathan cries with the tooth-ache, but
chuckles in his sleeve, as poor Jonathan's teeth, with which he is accustomed
to bite so hard, are pulled out by his own doctors. Mr. Seward has requested me
to come to Washington to confer on some public business (he does not say what)
and I shall start on Wednesday. . . .
EDWARD EVERETT.
SOURCE: Massachusetts Historical Society, Proceedings
of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Volume 45: October 1911 – June
1912, November 1911 Meeting, p. 78-9
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