James Russell Lowell to John L. Motley, July 28, 1864

Cambridge, July 28, 1864,

My dear Motley, — I write you on a matter of business. You may have heard that Norton and I have undertaken to edit the North American— a rather Sisyphian job, you will say. It wanted three chief elements to be successful. It wasn't thoroughly, that is, thick and thinly, loyal, it wasn't lively, and it had no particular opinions on any particular subject.

It was an eminently safe periodical, and accordingly was in great danger of running aground. It was an easy matter, of course, to make it loyal — even to give it opinions (such as they were), but to make it alive is more difficult. Perhaps the day of the quarterlies is gone by, and those megatheria of letters may be in the mere course of nature withdrawing to their last swamps to die in peace. Anyhow, here we are with our megatherium on our hands, and we must strive to find what will fill his huge belly, and keep him alive a little longer. You see what's coming. Pray imagine all the fine speeches and God-bless-your-honours, and let me proceed at once to hold out the inevitable hat. Couldn't you write us an article now and then? It would be a great help to us, and you shall have carte blanche as to subject. Couldn't you write on the natural history of that diplomatic cuttlefish of Schleswig-Holstein without forfeiting your ministerial equanimity? The creature has be-muddled himself with such a cloud of ink that he is almost indiscernable to the laic eye. Or on recent German literature? Or on Austria and its resources? Or, in short, on anything that may be solemn in topic and entertaining in treatment? Our pay isn't much, but you shall have five dollars a page, and the object is, in a sense, patriotic. If the thought be dreadful, see if you can't find also something pleasing in it, as Young managed to do in "Eternity." Imagine the difference in the tone of the Review. If you are a contributor, of course it will always be "Our amiable and accomplished minister at the Court of Vienna, who unites in himself," etc., etc., etc.; or else, "In such a state of affairs it was the misfortune of this country to be represented at Vienna by a minister as learned in Low Dutch as he was ignorant of high statesmanship," etc., etc. I pull my beaver over my eyes and mutter "Bewa-r-re!" etc. But, seriously, you can help us a great deal, and I really do not care what you write about if you will only write.

As to our situation here, you are doubtless well informed. My own feeling has always been confident, and it is now hopeful. If Mr. Lincoln is re-chosen, I think the war will soon be over. If not, there will be attempts at negotiation during which the rebels will recover breath, and then war again with more chances in their favour. Just now everything looks well. The real campaign is clearly in Georgia, and Grant has skilfully turned all eyes to Virginia by taking the command there in person. Sherman is a very able man, in dead earnest, and with a more powerful army than that of Virginia. It is true that the mercantile classes are longing for peace, but I believe the people are more firm than ever. So far as I can see, the opposition to Mr. Lincoln is both selfish and factious, but it is much in favour of the right side that the Democratic Party have literally not so much as a single plank of principle to float on, and the sea runs high. They don't know what they are in favour of — hardly what they think it safe to be against. And I doubt if they will gain much by going into an election on negatives. I attach some importance to the peace negotiation at Niagara (ludicrous as it was) as an indication of despair on the part of the rebels, especially as it was almost coincident with Clanricarde's movement in the House of Lords. Don't be alarmed about Washington. The noise made about it by the Copperheads is enough to show there is nothing dangerous in any rebel movements in that direction. I have no doubt that Washington is as safe as Vienna. What the Fremont defection may accomplish I can't say, but I have little fear from it. Its strength lies solely among our German Radicals, the most impracticable of mankind. If our population had been as homogeneous as during the Revolutionary war, our troubles would have been over in a year. All our foreign trading population have no fatherland but the till, and have done their best to destroy our credit. All our snobs, too, are Secesh. But I always think of Virgil's

“Pur a noi converrà vincer la punga

. . . se non — tal ne s' offerse.”

We have the promise of God's Word and God's nature on our side. Moreover, I have never believed, do not now believe, in the possibility of separation. The instinct of the people on both sides is against it. Is not the "coup de grace" of the Alabama refreshing? That an American sloop of war should sink a British ship of equal force, manned by British sailors and armed with British guns in the British Channel! There is something to make John Bull reflect.

Now do write something for us, if you can, and with kindest remembrances to Mrs. Motley,

Believe me always,

Cordially yours,

J. R. Lowell.

SOURCE: Charles Eliot Norton, Editor, Letters of James Russell Lowell, Volume 1, p. 374-8

Francis Lieber to Charles Sumner, June 2, 1861

June 2,1861.

Since I wrote the enclosed I have perused the news brought by the “America.” It is humiliating for us, who wish to honor England, to see her lowering herself thus. England has somewhat recovered from her Crimean loss of prestige, and she ought more carefully to husband her honor now. How bitterly the cup she is brewing now may one day be pressed to her mouth by the Irish, that her lips will bleed and her teeth will ache. England's conduct toward us forms a disgusting contrast to her repeated fawning on Napoleon, — England petting the South in her godless rebellion, and while even Virginians come out in favor of reopening the slave-trade I . . . We now want more than ever a large, sharp, and telling victory. That would change the premises, not only of Southern, but also of English syllogisms. I believe the cotton interest, the unpleasant consciousness of having played the second fiddle for a long time, the silly doctrine of State-sovereignty which seems to be acknowledged by almost all English papers, the snobbish idea of the gentlemanliness of the South, and the irritation at our tariff — all combined — have produced the remarkable state of feeling exhibited in the House of Lords. I find that the English news produced here only greater earnestness — no doubt still more so with you. What I fear most is that the next Congress will talk. There are some very vile fellows in it, e. g. our Wood. If they could only be made to abstain from all discussion of principle and let every vote be an act I 1 send a copy of a pamphlet of mine. The Psalm of to-day, read in church, had this beginning: “Why dost Thou stand so far away, O Lord?”

SOURCE: Thomas Sergeant Perry, Editor, The Life and Letters of Francis Lieber, p. 319-20