John L. Motley to Ann Lothrop Motley, May 12, 1863

Vienna, May 12, 1863.

My Dearest Mother: Since Easter brought an end to the Lenten entertainments which succeeded the carnival, there has been absolutely nothing going on in the social world. To-morrow there is a ceremony at the chapel of the imperial palace, the presentation of the cardinal's hat by the emperor to our colleague here, the internuncio, who has just been cardinalized by the Pope. I wish it had taken place yesterday, for then I might have a topic for my letter, besides having got through the bore of witnessing it.

There is much talk about war in Europe, but I can hardly believe it will come to blows. I don't exactly see how France or England is to get any benefit from the war. The Crimean War was different. Without it, it is probable that Russia would have got Constantinople, which England, of course, can never stand. France would like to fight Prussia and get the Rhine provinces, but England couldn't stand that, nor Austria either, much as she hates Prussia. So it would seem difficult to get up a war. As for Austria's going into such a shindy, the idea is ridiculous. To go to war to gain a province is conceivable; to do so expressly to lose one is not the disinterested fashion of European potentates. As for the Poles, nothing will satisfy them but complete independence, and in this object I don't believe that France or England means to aid them. So there will be guerrilla fighting all summer. Blood will flow in Poland, and ink in all the European cabinets very profusely, and the result will be that Russia will end by reducing the Poles to submission. At least this is the way things look now; but “on the other hand,” as Editor Clapp used to say, there is such a thing as drift, and kings and politicians don't govern the world, but move with the current, so that the war may really come before the summer is over, for the political question (to use the diplomatic jargon) is quite insoluble, as the diplomatic correspondence has already proved. There, I have given you politics enough for this little letter, and now I have only to say how much love we all send to you and the governor. I hope this summer will bring warmth and comfort and health to you. Give my love to my little Mary. Our news from America is to April 29, and things look bright on the Mississippi. I hope to hear good accounts from Hooker, but Virginia seems a fatal place for us.

Good-by, my dearest mother.

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. 330-2

While Mr. Cox of Ohio . . .

. . . was blackguarding Hayti and its Government and people in the House of Representatives and calling them a miserable set of worthless animals, unfit to be recognized by white men, the New York papers were printing the fact that the Hayti Congress opened on the 21st of April, the [illegible] of the Pope, and representatives of England, France and Spain being present.

– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, June 7, 1862, p. 2

Foreign News

PORTLAND, March 31.

The Jura from Liverpool, 20^th, and Londonderry the 21^st, arrived here at 6 p. m.

GREAT BRITAIN.

President Lincoln’s emancipation message had attracted much attention in England.

The Liverpool Post says there can be no doubt, it will have an incalculable effect in Europe, and that effect will be most favorable to the Northern cause.

A London paper in an editorial on the subject, says it is the most important news since the split.  The President’s avowed object is to recover to the Union the Border States.  The position is important, not for its intrinsic likelihood of acceptance, but simply because it is a proposition, and is the first bid made towards putting an end to the war.  The North may gradually rise in its offers until something acceptable has been put forth.  The only reply of the south to President Lincoln has been a resolution of the Confederate House of Representatives, to burn all the cotton and tobacco that may be in danger of falling into the hands of the invaders.  In every point of view the proposal of the president gives great scope for speculation and perhaps some glimpse of hope, but it is for what it may herald, and not for what it is.

Russell’s correspondence of the Times is again dated at Washington, and comes down to March 3d.  He says the weather has prevented Gen. McClellan from advancing.  He praises the constancy and tenacity of the Confederacy.  He says the Northern troops were getting weary of war and clamorous for furloughs.

Gibraltar advices of the 14^th, says the Federal vessels Tuscarora, John and [Kearsarge] were at Algiers.

The Lieutenant of the Sumter, and ex-U. S. Consul at Cadiz, who were arrested at Tangiers, were transferred from the John to the Harvest Home, bound for Boston.  It is said they were put in irons.

At a general meeting of the Atlantic Telegraphic Company held in London on the 19^th.  The directors report was adopted.  Hopeful views were entertained.

The Marine statistics show that in 5 months ending January 31^st, about 36 vessels from America for England laden with flour and grain, were lost.  The total cargoes exceeded 700,000 bushels.

FRANCE.

Additional troops were being sent to Mexico and a new brigade was to leave Toulon on the following week.

AUSTRIA.

Great precautions were being taken by the Vepitian frontiers.  The advance posts had been doubled and the garrisons augmented.  Troops had been posted along the line of the river Po.

GREECE.

All the cannon of the insurgents have fallen into the hands of the Royal troops.

A small garrison at Syria was captured and order restored at that place.

The insurgents at Nauplia asked for an amnesty and an armistice for 24 hours, which was granted.

ROME.

The Pope has been ill the past week.  His strength has been much prostrated and he has suspended his audiences.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Wednesday Morning, April 2, 1862, p. 1