Camp Brightwood, June 17, 1863.
I wonder whether I shall ever be able to repay Cousin John
in any way for his many kindnesses and for the many pleasant days and evenings
I have passed at Milton and Naushon. Do you know that after Chancellorsville he
wrote that he had more than half a mind to come home at once to help raise a
new army, and, if necessary, to take a musket himself.1 Perhaps one
of these days I may have a chance to do something to gratify him. I wonder
whether my theories about self-culture, &c., would ever have been modified
so much, whether I should ever have seen what a necessary failure they lead to,
had it not been for this war: now I feel every day more and more that a man has
no right to himself at all, that indeed he can do nothing useful unless he
recognize this clearly: nothing has helped me to see this last truth more than
watching Mr. Forbes, — I think he is one of the most unselfish workers I ever
knew of: it is painful here to see how sadly personal motives interfere with
most of our officers' usefulness. After the war, how much there will be to do, —
and how little opportunity a fellow in
the field has to prepare himself for the sort of doing that will be required:
it makes me quite sad sometimes; but then I think of Cousin John and remember
how much he always manages to do in every direction without any previous
preparation, simply by pitching in honestly and entirely, — and I reflect that
the great secret of doing, after all, is in seeing what is to be done. You know
I’ll not be rash; but I wish I could feel as sure of doing my duty elsewhere as
I am of doing it on the field of battle, — that is so little part of an
officer's and patriot's duty now.
We are still at our old camp, and with less prospect of an
immediate move than there was three days ago. Did I tell you poor Ruksh had
been sent to a hospital in town, — to be turned out to pasture if he lives. I
am going to town to pick out a Government horse to take his place as well as
maybe.
_______________
1 The subject of this letter's just praise was
Mr. John Murray Forbes. He was not “Cousin John” to Lowell, but the bond of
friendship and trust was so strong between the men that, as he was Miss Shaw's
kinsman, Lowell liked to take advantage of the kinship, before his marriage
should entitle him to it. Mr. Forbes was at this time in England, a private
citizen sent by his government on a mission of vital importance. I copy from
his Reminiscences, privately printed, the same story I have heard from
his own lips: —
“All through the early months of 1863 the alarm in regard to
the Laird ironclads had been increasing until, one Saturday morning in March, I
received a telegram from Secretary Chase of the Treasury asking me to meet him
the next morning, Sunday, in New York, where Secretary Welles of the Navy would
also be. I was half ill, but could not refuse, and so met the two Secretaries
and W. H. Aspinwall at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, as requested. They wished
Aspinwall and me to go at once to England, and see what could be done in the
way of selling United States bonds, and stopping the outfit of Confederate
cruisers, and especially ironclads. We agreed to go, and we were asked to draw
our own instructions, which we did, making them very general in their terms, the
main features being a very wide discretion and the unrestricted use of ten
million of 5-20s then just being prepared for issue to the public on this side,
but not yet countersigned. It was thought necessary that I should embark by the
Cunard steamer of Wednesday from Boston, and that Aspinwall should follow with
the bonds in a week. I returned home that night, packed up my baggage, left my
business, and started, as arranged on Wednesday, the 18th of March. . . . Aspinwall agreed to bring one of his old
steamship captains as an expert, to help us in our examination of the British
shipyards, then reported to be swarming with the outfitting Rebel cruisers.” Mr.
Forbes went to the Barings “and suggested, as a first want, that they should
put at my disposal £500,000, for which they were to have perhaps $4,000,000 of
5-20S as security.” This required consideration. Mr. Joshua Bates, of the firm,
“was the best of Americans, and he was always for the strongest measures. His
consultation with Mr. Baring resulted in their handing me a bank-book with £500,000 at my credit,
subject to cash draft; and so, when Aspinwall arrived, a week later, our
finances were all right, and he deposited the 5-20S in Baring's vaults, part as
security for the money, and the rest subject to our orders.” Mr. Forbes used
every effort to show the English where “their sympathy was due, and that, as
neutral, it was their duty to stop the sailing of the ironclads known to be
built for the Confederacy.” The Society of Friends and the Peace Society were
friendly, but cold; and, bad as things were, he wrote, “Bright, Cobden,
W. E. Forster, the Duke of Argyle, and a few others were with us heartily and
took bold ground in our cause; but, generally speaking, the aristocracy and the
trading classes were solid against us. Gladstone . . . had not found out the
merits of our cause, and Lord John Russell, called a liberal member of the
Cabinet, was with official insolence sneering, even in a public speech, at what
he called ‘the once United States.’” Mr. Forbes worked hard to quicken the
sympathies of the Society of Friends. His coming was welcomed by our brave
minister, Charles Francis Adams, whose task had become indeed anxious and
heavy. The work of selling the 5-20s in England and on the Continent was pushed,
the purchase of the most threatening ironclads, which had been contemplated,
proved impracticable. Then Mr. Adams took the final step. On the 5th of
September he wrote to Lord Russell: “At this moment, when one of the
ironclad vessels is on the point of departure from this kingdom on a hostile
errand against the United States, it would be superfluous for me to point out
to your lordship that this is war.”
The answer (Sept. 8) was: “Instructions have been issued
which will prevent the departure of these two ironclad vessels from Liverpool.”
SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of
Charles Russell Lowell, p. 258-60, 424-6
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