John L. Motley to Anna Lothrop Motley, December 29, 1863

December 29, 1863.

My Dearest Mother: We wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy New Year. We are very well satisfied with recent American news. In a military point of view, thank Heaven, the “coming man,” for whom we have so long been waiting, seems really to have come. So far as I can understand the subject, Ulysses Grant is at least equal to any general now living in any part of the world, and by far the first that our war has produced on either side. I expect that when the Vicksburg and Tennessee campaigns come to be written, many years hence, it will appear that they are masterpieces of military art. A correspondent of a widely circulated German newspaper (the "Augsburg Gazette"), very far from friendly to America, writing from the seat of war in Tennessee, speaks of the battle of Chattanooga as an action which, both for scientific combination and bravery in execution, is equal to any battle of modern times from the days of Frederick the Great downward. I am also much pleased with the Message, and my respect for the character and ability of the President increases every day. It was an immense good fortune for us in this emergency to have a man in his responsible place whose integrity has never been impeached, so far as I know, by friend or foe. The ferment in Europe does not subside, and I cannot understand how the German-Danish quarrel can be quietly settled. I rather expect to see a popular outbreak in Copenhagen, to be suppressed, perhaps, by foreign powers; but that Denmark will be dismembered seems to me very probable. However, I have no intention of prophesying as to events to be expected during the coming year.

Ever your affectionate son,

J. L. M.

SOURCE: George William Curtis, editor, The Correspondence of John Lothrop Motley in Two Volumes, Library Edition, Volume 2, p. 351-2

Extract of Speech of Governor Henry A. Wise, October 21, 1859

And they are themselves mistaken who take Brown to be a madman. He is a bundle of the best nerves I ever saw: cut and thrust and bleeding, and in bonds. He is a man of clear head, of courage, fortitude, and simple ingenuousness. He is cool, collected, and indomitable, and it is but just to him to say that he was humane to his prisoners as attested to me by Colonel Washington and Mr. Mills, and he inspired me with great trust in his integrity as a man of truth. He is a fanatic, vain and garrulous, but firm, truthful, and intelligent. His men, too, who survive, except the free negroes with him, are like him. He professes to be a Christian in communion with the Congregational Church of the North, and openly preaches his purpose of universal emancipation; and the negroes themselves were to be the agents, by means of arms, led on by white commanders.

When Colonel Washington was taken, his watch, and plate, and jewels, and money were demanded, to create what they call a ‘safety fund,’ to compensate the liberators for the trouble and expense of taking away his slaves. This, by a law, was to be done with all slaveholders. Washington, of course; refused to deliver up anything; and it is remarkable, that the only thing of material value which they took, besides his slaves, was the sword of Frederick the Great, which was sent to General Washington. This was taken by Stevens to Brown, and the latter commanded his men with that sword in this fight against the peace and safety of Washington's native State! He promised Col. Washington to return it when he was done with it. Colonel Washington says that he was the coolest and firmest man he ever saw in defying danger and death. With one son dead by his side, and another shot through, he felt the pulse of his dying son with one hand, held his rifle with the other, and commanded his men with the utmost composure, encouraging them to be firm, and to sell their lives as dearly as they could.  Of the tree white prisoners Brown, Stevens and Coppic – it was hard to say which was most firm; and of the two negroes, it was hard to say which seemed the most cowardly and false.  The North Carolina negro offered to betray all person involved in the affair, if spared, and the Canada negro – who was I believed, one of the members of their Provisional Congress – was a crouching craven, who lied, as Brown said, for life.

SOURCES: Franklin B. Sanborn, The Life and Letters of John Brown, p. 571-2; Richard Josiah Hinton, John Brown and His Men, p. 329; The Life and Letters of Captain John Brown, p. 166-8; “Old Brown,” Orleans Independent Standard, Irasburgh, Vermont, Friday November 4, 1859; James, Redpath,The Public Life of Capt. John Brown, p. 273; “Speech of Gov. Wise at Richomnd,” The National Era, Washington, D. C., Thursday, November 3, 1859; “The Insurrection of Harper’s Ferry,” New York Daily Tribune, New York, New York, Saturday, October 22, 1859 which states the date that Wise returned to Richmond on October 21, 1859; “Local Matters,” Daily Dispatch, Richmond, Virginia, Saturday, October 22, 1859, p. 1 which verified Wise “returned to the city yesterday afternoon, from Harper’s Ferry.”

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: February 16, 1863

Another gun-boat has got past Vicksburg. But three British steamers have run into Charleston with valuable cargoes.

Gen. Lee is now sending troops to Charleston, and this strengthens the report that Hooker's army is leaving the Rappahannock. They are probably crumbling to pieces, under the influence of the peace party growing up in the North. Some of them, however, it is said, are sent to Fortress Monroe.

Our Bureau of Conscription ought to be called the Bureau of Exemption. It is turning out a vast number of exempts. The Southern Express Company bring sugar, partridges, turkeys, etc. to the potential functionaries, and their employees are exempted during the time they may remain in the employment of the company. It is too bad!

I have just been reperusing Frederick's great campaigns, and find much encouragement. Prussia was not so strong as the Confederate States, and yet was environed and assailed by France, Austria, Russia, and several smaller powers simultaneously. And yet Frederick maintained the contest for seven years, and finally triumphed over his enemies. The preponderance of numbers against him in the field was greater than that of the United States against us; and Lee is as able a general as Frederick. Hence we should never despair.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 260

John L. Motley to Anna Lothrop Motley, December 22, 1862

Vienna,

December 22, 1862.

My dearest Mother: It is long since I have written, and, indeed, I have been far from well for some time — nothing serious or which can cause anxiety, but making me uncomfortable and almost incapable of writing. I cannot, however, let the Christmas-tide pass over without sending you my dearest and best greetings and wishes for health and happiness. Thank God, however, I entertain the hope of living to see the day when even in Boston there will be no pro-slavery party, because when there is no longer slavery there can no longer be a party to support it. . . .

The young Crown Princess of Prussia (Princess Royal of England) was here for three days a little while ago. The morning after her arrival I received a note from my colleague the Prussian minister, in whose house she was staying, informing me she was very desirous of making my acquaintance, having been lately reading my works, etc., and requesting me to call that morning. This I accordingly did, and was received very kindly by the young princess and her husband, and spent a very agreeable half-hour with them quite alone. She is rather petite, has a fresh young face, with pretty features, fine teeth, and a frank and agreeable smile, and an interested, earnest, and intelligent manner. Nothing can be simpler or more natural than her style, which I should say was the perfection of good breeding. She was in close mourning. She said many complimentary things about my writings, and indeed I may say that I heard from others, Lord Bloomfield and Baron Werther for instance, that she was one of my most enthusiastic readers. I say this because I think it will please you.

She had also been reading Froude, whom she much admired. I told her that he was a friend of mine, and that I, too, entertained the highest opinion of him as a historian, although he had by no means converted me to his faith in Henry VIII. The princess was evidently disposed to admire that polygamous party, and was also a great adorer of Queen Elizabeth. Whence I concluded that she had not read my last two volumes, as she would hardly have expected entire sympathy from me in this respect. I told her that although I had great respect for Queen Elizabeth's genius and accomplishments and energy, I was not one of her thick-and-thin admirers. She spoke of Carlyle's last work — I mean his “History of Frederick the Great.” I said that Carlyle's other works seemed to me magnificent, wonderful monuments of poetry and imagination, profound research, and most original humor; but that I thought him a most immoral writer, from his exaggerated reverence for brute force, which he was so apt to confound with wisdom and genius. A world governed a la Carlyle would be a pandemonium. The young prince is tall, blond, soldierly, intelligent, with frank, agreeable manners. Baron Werther told me last night that I ought to feel myself complimented, as I was the only person outside of the imperial family whom the princess had seen in Vienna, except the English ambassador and Lady Bloomfield.

We have very pleasant, bright winter weather here, never much above or below the freezing-point. The Vienna climate is not unlike that of Boston, only very much mitigated. It is dry, clear, with a respectable cold in winter and tolerable heat in summer. I am sorry to say it does not suit me very well. I mean that it has that electrifying, irritating effect of the Boston atmosphere upon me, which does not put me in good working trim. However, I am determined that the new year shall find me hard at work on Volume III. We all send love to you and my father and all at home. Good-by. God bless you, my dearest mother, and all the blessings of the season attend you and all. Write when you can; your letters always give me great pleasure. I shall not let so long an interval elapse again without sending at least a note.

Ever your affectionate son,

J. L. M.

SOURCE: George William Curtis, editor, The Correspondence of John Lothrop Motley in Two Volumes, Library Edition, Volume 2, p. 299-301