Difference between revisions of ".MzI0.NDcx"
(Created page with "This item is currently being transcribed by a volunteer. We look forward to making the full-text of the document available soon.-Gil E") |
|||
Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
− | This | + | [1] |
+ | |||
+ | by the [steamer] Niagara 11 Welfield Place [Liverpool, England] – 21 March [18]’62 | ||
+ | |||
+ | Dear Ann Friday night – | ||
+ | |||
+ | This evening Mrs. Cropper sent me | ||
+ | a short note, enclosing your letter to her of 3rd inst[ant] [3 March] | ||
+ | & the Extracts from the “Caucasian,” & I have read | ||
+ | them all – i.e. your letter to her & these extracts. – She | ||
+ | says; “If you are writing to Ann by this mail, will | ||
+ | “you give her my kind love, & say I hope to write by next | ||
+ | “post. – How all seems “going ahead” on the other | ||
+ | “side. What do you think of things? whenever you | ||
+ | “can pay us a visit, we shall be most happy to | ||
+ | “see you. – Kind love to the Bolds – Always yours | ||
+ | “most truly – Anne Cropper.” – | ||
+ | |||
+ | I intend calling at the Dingle tomorrow morn[in]g, | ||
+ | to return these things, & to read to Mrs. Cropper the | ||
+ | copy of Nans letter of 24th February to you – but not | ||
+ | to pay as long a morning call there as in the last | ||
+ | occasion, because, for one reason, I have not the | ||
+ | time for it. – | ||
+ | |||
+ | By “going ahead” I suppose Mrs. Cropper means | ||
+ | this last Message from Mr. Lincoln suggesting | ||
+ | the proposal, to the Border States, of Emancipation | ||
+ | with compensation. – As might be expected, this | ||
+ | recommendation has attracted universal attention on | ||
+ | this side; & all the newspapers are commenting upon it. | ||
+ | Taking their cue from the first short article of the | ||
+ | Times, of yesterday (there is a much longer one in | ||
+ | that paper today) they commonly construe it as an | ||
+ | evidence of the North being tired out & exhausted & | ||
+ | ready to assent to a separate Confederacy of the Cotton | ||
+ | States, provided the Border States will join the North. | ||
+ | |||
+ | This, I need scarcely say, is not my interpretation, & | ||
+ | as for exhaustion of the North, I think it absurd. | ||
+ | I do not see how the people of the North; or perhaps, | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | [2] | ||
+ | |||
+ | I ought to say, the West [underscored], can ever be brought to as= | ||
+ | =sent to surrendering the command of the navigation | ||
+ | of the mouth & main trunk of the Missi[ssippi] [River] to a South | ||
+ | =ern Confederacy. I therefore expect the War to go on | ||
+ | until the Stars & Stripes wave over N[ew] Orleans; & I think | ||
+ | that when that is the case, Mobile [Alabama] will follow such of | ||
+ | its own accord, & secession would then naturally crum | ||
+ | =ble to pieces. – | ||
+ | |||
+ | I do not imagine that Mr. Lincoln’s proposition | ||
+ | will find favour in any one of the Border States | ||
+ | collectively, tho’ there are perhaps many owners of | ||
+ | Slaves who coincide in his views. – If it have | ||
+ | any effect at all, throughout the Slave States, I | ||
+ | think it will only be that of intensifying & | ||
+ | strengthening their efforts for independence. | ||
+ | |||
+ | But I did not sit down to discuss this matter. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Today I had a long visit from William. – I gave | ||
+ | him £4 – half for himself & half for him to give to | ||
+ | Fontaine, whom I have not seen since yesterday | ||
+ | afternoon: & I intend giving them the same sum | ||
+ | this day week, & each succeeding Friday. – I told | ||
+ | each of them that many persons managed to sup= | ||
+ | =port a family [‘support a family’ underscored] out of £100 a year, or even less. | ||
+ | |||
+ | They were both at the Steel’s yesterday. W[illia]m, at | ||
+ | my recommendation, went in the 2 p.m. boat & | ||
+ | there | ||
+ | dined ^. They had both untended going at 3 1/2 p.m.; | ||
+ | & Fontaine not meeting with W[illia]m until [struck-through] after he | ||
+ | left me, waited until that or a later hour, & so | ||
+ | did not reach the house until 5 minutes before | ||
+ | W[illia]m left. – They had a very kind reception, & | ||
+ | are to go again, by invitation, to dine there some | ||
+ | day next week. | ||
+ | |||
+ | William had a long talk yesterday with his | ||
+ | uncle Horatio, after he parted with me: & | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | [3] | ||
+ | |||
+ | uncle H[oratio] threw cold water upon all his plans | ||
+ | for cultivating business connections here with the | ||
+ | him | ||
+ | view to returning to N[ew] O[rleans] & recommended ^ to | ||
+ | try & find employment as a clerk in L[iver]pool. | ||
+ | |||
+ | I told W[illia]m that I was dead against his plan | ||
+ | of seeking business with L[iver]pool as a merchant | ||
+ | at N[ew] O[rleans], for I was sure it would end in a col= | ||
+ | =lision between himself & James. – I enquired into | ||
+ | the circumstances which had brought about his appli- | ||
+ | =cation for relief to the Court of Bankruptcy at N[ew] O[rleans], | ||
+ | & thus learnt that the chief Cr[editor] of W[illiam] Maury & Hogg | ||
+ | was a N[ew] O[rleans] dentist, a friend of Hogg, & who had | ||
+ | advanced them money. – I asked how it was | ||
+ | as to Cr[editor]s in the West; & he said that the sum | ||
+ | total of such claims did not exceed about $600. | ||
+ | |||
+ | I was glad to find them so trifling and build | ||
+ | =ing upon this I urged him by all means to re= | ||
+ | =sume his business at N[ew] O[rleans], just as before, as | ||
+ | a Western Produce factor etc., and whenever he | ||
+ | left here, to steer for N[ew] York & St. Louis, & thus see | ||
+ | all his business friends in the West. – He spoke | ||
+ | of it as a bad business. – I pointed out that he was | ||
+ | doing well in it until he took Mr. Hogg into partner | ||
+ | =ship: - but I said nothing about “Buff: Targeris” – | ||
+ | tho’ I said much about the principle of a “rolling | ||
+ | stone” not “gathering moss” etc. He asked me if | ||
+ | I knew what cousin Rob[er]t had recommended. | ||
+ | I said I had not heard any thing about it. He then | ||
+ | R[obert] | ||
+ | told me cousin ^ had recommended him to set up | ||
+ | in business (as soon as the War is over) either at | ||
+ | Richmond or Norfolk [Virginia], & had said, he would back | ||
+ | him with the necessary means. – I said that | ||
+ | neither place was to be compared for one moment | ||
+ | as a field of business with N[ew] Orleans; & that there | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | [4] | ||
+ | |||
+ | was far more competition there than at N[ew] Orleans | ||
+ | that he would have to learn some new calling, | ||
+ | but if he went back to N[ew] O[rleans] & persevered in his | ||
+ | old line in connection with the West, I saw no | ||
+ | reason why he should not prosper: - that every | ||
+ | branch of business, when properly pursued, was self= | ||
+ | =supporting. – He evidently wants to go to work trading [underscored] | ||
+ | on his own [‘his own’ underscored] account & relying upon cousin Robert, I | ||
+ | presume, for the capital. – He spoke of some man | ||
+ | in N[ew] O[rleans] whose main trade was importing gunny-bags | ||
+ | & Soda-ash, & who, to the surprise of most persons, | ||
+ | having died lately, had left $300,000 [underscored]; and so W[illia]m | ||
+ | is now [?] gunny-bags & Soda-ash. – I told | ||
+ | him that the latter was an article the consumption | ||
+ | of which appertained almost entirely to the Northern | ||
+ | or Free States, & that N[ew] York & Boston were the import= | ||
+ | =ers of gunny-bags; & that if cousin Rob[er]t allowed | ||
+ | him to invest the proceeds of the Lard in articles | ||
+ | to be shipped to N[ew] O[rleans] I doubted whether gunny – | ||
+ | bags were a desirable investment. He said he | ||
+ | wanted to buy second-hand [‘second-hand’ underscored] bags, if to be laid | ||
+ | down at N[ew] O[rleans] at not over 7¢ each, or thereabouts. | ||
+ | He spoke of their being wanted as a substitution for | ||
+ | cotton-[baggery?] by the cotton-planters, as well as for | ||
+ | grain. – I told him that perhaps the supplies both | ||
+ | of India [baggery?] & new [underscored] gunny bags in N[ew] Y[ork] & Boston | ||
+ | were | ||
+ | was [struck-through] large & ample, & that Kentucky was perhaps | ||
+ | holding an adequate supply of Hempen [baggery?]. | ||
+ | |||
+ | I said I would ask his uncle Matthew for in- | ||
+ | =formation on these points. [‘I...point’ underscored] – I think William is | ||
+ | visionary & speculative. – It is just as well for | ||
+ | him to have this opportunity of revisiting his | ||
+ | native land, & it is well that you had not too | ||
+ | many of these lads quartered upon you at the | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | [5] | ||
+ | |||
+ | (5) | ||
+ | same time; but I do not see anything else to be | ||
+ | gained by his coming here. – It is pretty plain | ||
+ | that uncle Horatio does not want to be bothered | ||
+ | by either of these lads – tho’ I have not yet had an | ||
+ | opportunity of talking with him on the subject. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In a pecuniary point of view, it will, I think, “cost | ||
+ | more than it comes to” – for his coming over here | ||
+ | to pocket a comm[ission] on the sale of the Lard – | ||
+ | when we consider the cost of passage each way | ||
+ | & his board etc. while here. – It might have | ||
+ | been cheaper to me & as good for him to have | ||
+ | given him a bank cheque in N[ew] York for as | ||
+ | much as these commissions will amount to. | ||
+ | |||
+ | I am inclined to turn him over to E. Heath | ||
+ | & Co[mpany] as the best party to sell his Lard & invest | ||
+ | the proceeds – altho’ they are James’ constituents. | ||
+ | I should then feel that cousin Robert’s interests | ||
+ | were in safe hands; whilst Mr. Burton is just | ||
+ | the man, I think, to consult about gunny-bags | ||
+ | & other articles to be shipped to N[ew] O[rleans]. – | ||
+ | |||
+ | I told W[illia]m I did not think it well to act on | ||
+ | uncle Horatio’s suggestion to try & find employ= | ||
+ | =ment here as a clerk. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Before we had this talk I read to him your 3 | ||
+ | last letters – 27 Feb[ruar]y to 6th March – or the greater | ||
+ | part of them. – It was past 2 p.m. when | ||
+ | he left me. – I then went to call upon Mr. Fer= | ||
+ | =dinand Rodewald, intending (on behalf of W[illia]m) | ||
+ | to ask him whether T & P.D.S. Sellar & Co[mpany] have | ||
+ | any regular correspondent, or agent at N[ew] O[rleans] for, | ||
+ | as they are engaged largely in the trade in | ||
+ | Provisions, Lard, & Breadstuffs, I thought that | ||
+ | if they were without any N[ew] O[rleans] agent, it might be | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | [6] | ||
+ | |||
+ | desirable for W[illia]m to place his Lard in their | ||
+ | hands. – I fancy, however, that they have friends | ||
+ | there already, in the house of [Denistorms?]! or | ||
+ | in Tom [Byren?] the Cotton factor: - But when | ||
+ | I got to Mr. Rodewald’s office I found from | ||
+ | his clerk that he is laid up with a cold & | ||
+ | had not come to town today. – | ||
+ | |||
+ | I read to W[illia]m that part of Matthew’s letter to | ||
+ | me of 4 March wherein he says the Lard is | ||
+ | in course of shipment, & he further remark, | ||
+ | “Tell him that in my opinion, [‘my opinion’ underscored] when the Lard | ||
+ | “is sold - & for which he ought to select a re= | ||
+ | “=sponsible consigner, he ought to put the Money | ||
+ | “in the Bank of Liverpool, to remain there sub= | ||
+ | “=ject to the order of R. H. Maury & Co[mpany].[Robert H. Maury] – | ||
+ | whereupon W[illia]m remarked that he should | ||
+ | probably have a letter before long, & perhaps | ||
+ | before the Lard arrives from R. H. Maury & Co[mpany] | ||
+ | themselves: - but I am of the same opinion | ||
+ | as Matthew on these points. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Most of what I have written in this letter | ||
+ | about W[illia]m is intended as much for Matthew | ||
+ | as for you, or more so. [‘more so’ underscored] | ||
+ | |||
+ | 22nd (Office) 1 1/2 p.m. | ||
+ | I sat an hour with Mrs. Cropper this morn[in]g. | ||
+ | She had not heard from Mary Wakefield for | ||
+ | some days past. | ||
+ | |||
+ | On reaching here I find Matthews 2 letters | ||
+ | of 7th & 7/8 inst[ant] [7 & 7/8 March] the latter enclosing your note of | ||
+ | the 7th & Mary’s to me & to Mary Bold, & Walkers of | ||
+ | the 6th & a note from Walker for W[illia]m to whom I have | ||
+ | given it. – Mrs. Sabines position is very, very sad, | ||
+ | & I feel very sorry for her. Y[ou]rs affectionately | ||
+ | R[utson] Maury |
Latest revision as of 07:36, 14 July 2015
[1]
by the [steamer] Niagara 11 Welfield Place [Liverpool, England] – 21 March [18]’62
Dear Ann Friday night –
This evening Mrs. Cropper sent me a short note, enclosing your letter to her of 3rd inst[ant] [3 March] & the Extracts from the “Caucasian,” & I have read them all – i.e. your letter to her & these extracts. – She says; “If you are writing to Ann by this mail, will “you give her my kind love, & say I hope to write by next “post. – How all seems “going ahead” on the other “side. What do you think of things? whenever you “can pay us a visit, we shall be most happy to “see you. – Kind love to the Bolds – Always yours “most truly – Anne Cropper.” –
I intend calling at the Dingle tomorrow morn[in]g, to return these things, & to read to Mrs. Cropper the copy of Nans letter of 24th February to you – but not to pay as long a morning call there as in the last occasion, because, for one reason, I have not the time for it. –
By “going ahead” I suppose Mrs. Cropper means this last Message from Mr. Lincoln suggesting the proposal, to the Border States, of Emancipation with compensation. – As might be expected, this recommendation has attracted universal attention on this side; & all the newspapers are commenting upon it. Taking their cue from the first short article of the Times, of yesterday (there is a much longer one in that paper today) they commonly construe it as an evidence of the North being tired out & exhausted & ready to assent to a separate Confederacy of the Cotton States, provided the Border States will join the North.
This, I need scarcely say, is not my interpretation, & as for exhaustion of the North, I think it absurd. I do not see how the people of the North; or perhaps,
[2]
I ought to say, the West [underscored], can ever be brought to as= =sent to surrendering the command of the navigation of the mouth & main trunk of the Missi[ssippi] [River] to a South =ern Confederacy. I therefore expect the War to go on until the Stars & Stripes wave over N[ew] Orleans; & I think that when that is the case, Mobile [Alabama] will follow such of its own accord, & secession would then naturally crum =ble to pieces. –
I do not imagine that Mr. Lincoln’s proposition will find favour in any one of the Border States collectively, tho’ there are perhaps many owners of Slaves who coincide in his views. – If it have any effect at all, throughout the Slave States, I think it will only be that of intensifying & strengthening their efforts for independence.
But I did not sit down to discuss this matter.
Today I had a long visit from William. – I gave him £4 – half for himself & half for him to give to Fontaine, whom I have not seen since yesterday afternoon: & I intend giving them the same sum this day week, & each succeeding Friday. – I told each of them that many persons managed to sup= =port a family [‘support a family’ underscored] out of £100 a year, or even less.
They were both at the Steel’s yesterday. W[illia]m, at my recommendation, went in the 2 p.m. boat &
there
dined ^. They had both untended going at 3 1/2 p.m.; & Fontaine not meeting with W[illia]m until [struck-through] after he left me, waited until that or a later hour, & so did not reach the house until 5 minutes before W[illia]m left. – They had a very kind reception, & are to go again, by invitation, to dine there some day next week.
William had a long talk yesterday with his uncle Horatio, after he parted with me: &
[3]
uncle H[oratio] threw cold water upon all his plans for cultivating business connections here with the
him
view to returning to N[ew] O[rleans] & recommended ^ to try & find employment as a clerk in L[iver]pool.
I told W[illia]m that I was dead against his plan of seeking business with L[iver]pool as a merchant at N[ew] O[rleans], for I was sure it would end in a col= =lision between himself & James. – I enquired into the circumstances which had brought about his appli- =cation for relief to the Court of Bankruptcy at N[ew] O[rleans], & thus learnt that the chief Cr[editor] of W[illiam] Maury & Hogg was a N[ew] O[rleans] dentist, a friend of Hogg, & who had advanced them money. – I asked how it was as to Cr[editor]s in the West; & he said that the sum total of such claims did not exceed about $600.
I was glad to find them so trifling and build
ing upon this I urged him by all means to re
=sume his business at N[ew] O[rleans], just as before, as a Western Produce factor etc., and whenever he left here, to steer for N[ew] York & St. Louis, & thus see all his business friends in the West. – He spoke of it as a bad business. – I pointed out that he was doing well in it until he took Mr. Hogg into partner =ship: - but I said nothing about “Buff: Targeris” – tho’ I said much about the principle of a “rolling stone” not “gathering moss” etc. He asked me if I knew what cousin Rob[er]t had recommended. I said I had not heard any thing about it. He then
R[obert]
told me cousin ^ had recommended him to set up in business (as soon as the War is over) either at Richmond or Norfolk [Virginia], & had said, he would back him with the necessary means. – I said that neither place was to be compared for one moment as a field of business with N[ew] Orleans; & that there
[4]
was far more competition there than at N[ew] Orleans that he would have to learn some new calling, but if he went back to N[ew] O[rleans] & persevered in his old line in connection with the West, I saw no reason why he should not prosper: - that every branch of business, when properly pursued, was self= =supporting. – He evidently wants to go to work trading [underscored] on his own [‘his own’ underscored] account & relying upon cousin Robert, I presume, for the capital. – He spoke of some man in N[ew] O[rleans] whose main trade was importing gunny-bags & Soda-ash, & who, to the surprise of most persons, having died lately, had left $300,000 [underscored]; and so W[illia]m is now [?] gunny-bags & Soda-ash. – I told him that the latter was an article the consumption of which appertained almost entirely to the Northern or Free States, & that N[ew] York & Boston were the import= =ers of gunny-bags; & that if cousin Rob[er]t allowed him to invest the proceeds of the Lard in articles to be shipped to N[ew] O[rleans] I doubted whether gunny – bags were a desirable investment. He said he wanted to buy second-hand [‘second-hand’ underscored] bags, if to be laid down at N[ew] O[rleans] at not over 7¢ each, or thereabouts. He spoke of their being wanted as a substitution for cotton-[baggery?] by the cotton-planters, as well as for grain. – I told him that perhaps the supplies both of India [baggery?] & new [underscored] gunny bags in N[ew] Y[ork] & Boston were was [struck-through] large & ample, & that Kentucky was perhaps holding an adequate supply of Hempen [baggery?].
I said I would ask his uncle Matthew for in- =formation on these points. [‘I...point’ underscored] – I think William is visionary & speculative. – It is just as well for him to have this opportunity of revisiting his native land, & it is well that you had not too many of these lads quartered upon you at the
[5]
(5) same time; but I do not see anything else to be gained by his coming here. – It is pretty plain that uncle Horatio does not want to be bothered by either of these lads – tho’ I have not yet had an opportunity of talking with him on the subject.
In a pecuniary point of view, it will, I think, “cost more than it comes to” – for his coming over here to pocket a comm[ission] on the sale of the Lard – when we consider the cost of passage each way & his board etc. while here. – It might have been cheaper to me & as good for him to have given him a bank cheque in N[ew] York for as much as these commissions will amount to.
I am inclined to turn him over to E. Heath & Co[mpany] as the best party to sell his Lard & invest the proceeds – altho’ they are James’ constituents. I should then feel that cousin Robert’s interests were in safe hands; whilst Mr. Burton is just the man, I think, to consult about gunny-bags & other articles to be shipped to N[ew] O[rleans]. –
I told W[illia]m I did not think it well to act on uncle Horatio’s suggestion to try & find employ= =ment here as a clerk.
Before we had this talk I read to him your 3 last letters – 27 Feb[ruar]y to 6th March – or the greater part of them. – It was past 2 p.m. when he left me. – I then went to call upon Mr. Fer= =dinand Rodewald, intending (on behalf of W[illia]m) to ask him whether T & P.D.S. Sellar & Co[mpany] have any regular correspondent, or agent at N[ew] O[rleans] for, as they are engaged largely in the trade in Provisions, Lard, & Breadstuffs, I thought that if they were without any N[ew] O[rleans] agent, it might be
[6]
desirable for W[illia]m to place his Lard in their hands. – I fancy, however, that they have friends there already, in the house of [Denistorms?]! or in Tom [Byren?] the Cotton factor: - But when I got to Mr. Rodewald’s office I found from his clerk that he is laid up with a cold & had not come to town today. –
I read to W[illia]m that part of Matthew’s letter to me of 4 March wherein he says the Lard is in course of shipment, & he further remark, “Tell him that in my opinion, [‘my opinion’ underscored] when the Lard “is sold - & for which he ought to select a re= “=sponsible consigner, he ought to put the Money “in the Bank of Liverpool, to remain there sub= “=ject to the order of R. H. Maury & Co[mpany].[Robert H. Maury] – whereupon W[illia]m remarked that he should probably have a letter before long, & perhaps before the Lard arrives from R. H. Maury & Co[mpany] themselves: - but I am of the same opinion as Matthew on these points.
Most of what I have written in this letter about W[illia]m is intended as much for Matthew as for you, or more so. [‘more so’ underscored]
22nd (Office) 1 1/2 p.m. I sat an hour with Mrs. Cropper this morn[in]g. She had not heard from Mary Wakefield for some days past.
On reaching here I find Matthews 2 letters of 7th & 7/8 inst[ant] [7 & 7/8 March] the latter enclosing your note of the 7th & Mary’s to me & to Mary Bold, & Walkers of the 6th & a note from Walker for W[illia]m to whom I have given it. – Mrs. Sabines position is very, very sad, & I feel very sorry for her. Y[ou]rs affectionately R[utson] Maury