New York, August 12, 1861.
My Dearest Mary:
I have but an instant to write a single line. It is nearly twelve at night, and
I leave for Washington to-morrow morning very early. I have just been notified
of my appointment as minister to Austria. . . . I am afraid Lily and Mary will be
awfully disappointed, particularly as I wrote so recently that you had better
return to America. But I think sincerely that they would both be made rather
melancholy by the present aspect of society here. . . . There is no great change in the
political situation, and I have no time to go into the depths of affairs. We
expect daily to hear of a battle in Missouri, and of course feel anxious. I
have not seen Plon-Plon, and he has left Washington. Sumner dined with me and
Sam Hooper to-day here at the Brevoort House, just from Washington. He had been
dining with Plon-Plon once or twice, and we are very much amazed, annoyed, and
amused at our allowing him to make a formal visit to the rebels, escorted to
their lines by a company of Union cavalry. Sumner was very energetic and
steadfast in urging my appointment, to which there was much opposition owing to
the old cause — too much for Massachusetts; and there were some urgent and
formidable candidates.
Ever affectionately
yours,
J. L. M.
SOURCE: George William Curtis, editor, The
Correspondence of John Lothrop Motley in Two Volumes, Library Edition,
Volume 2, p. 199
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