31 Hertford Street,
Mayfair,
May 16, 1861.
My Dear Duchess Of
Argyll: I hope that you will kindly accept the accompanying volumes, in
memory of the delightful days during which we had the privilege of enjoying
your hospitality at Inveraray.
You were my first reader, or rather my first and only listener,
for you may recollect that you allowed me to read a chapter from the
proof-sheets.
I have just taken the liberty of writing a hurried note to
the duke. I do hope that you will use your influence to persuade him and the
English government and all England that the cause of the United States
government is a righteous cause; that we are disappointed and mortified at the
idea that there should be any party in England, least of all in the Liberal
government, who should look coldly on the chance of our dismemberment, while we
are struggling with the most gigantic rebellion with which a civilized
commonwealth was ever called on to grapple. We are but in the beginning of the
conflict. Of course we do not expect anything but neutrality; but why we are
not as much entitled to moral sympathy as Italy ever was, I cannot understand.
With the greatest regard,
Believe me very
faithfully yours,
J. L. Motley.
SOURCE: George William Curtis, editor, The
Correspondence of John Lothrop Motley in Two Volumes, Library Edition, Volume
2, p. 127
No comments:
Post a Comment