.Mjk1.NDA5
[1]
Liverpool 3rd January 1862.
Dear Ann
I had but little time yesterday
to write to you, and I do not know that I
have much to say now that I have not that
excuse. –
The frost vanished yesterday, but seems
likely to return before tomorrow morning.
You will see how part of my time (& not
a little bit of it) has been spent today, by read
=ing the enclosed copy of my note to Mrs.
Hamilton. The self imposed task of getting
this ½ bbl of Apples was attended with in=
=finitely more trouble than selling the 140 bales
of Cotton. Indigenous apples this season
are scarce & unusually dear; & these Newtown
pippins were not cheap, tho’ they were fine
fruit: they cost 20/–, & the carriage was 5/–
They ought to be delivered in Chester square
on Monday, the 6th. – I had no less than 3
journeys in looking after them, at a shopes
in Gt. Charlotte St. (leading from White Chapel
into that old remembered spot, Queen Square)
1st. I went to bespeak them: 2nd to inspect the
selection after they were packed & before being
headed up: 3rd to get the railway receipt; &
this last not being forthcoming until ¾ of an
hour after the appointed time, I should have
been entirely too late for dinner at 5½ p.m.,
had I not ridden in a cab from Lime St.
to Welfield Place, at a cost of 2/–.
[2]
Mr. Menlove accompanied me on my 3rd. peram-
=bulation, & when we entered Queen Square, I told
him that Messrs Ewart & Rutson lived there in
the early days of their prosperity; whilst he
pointed out the house, now the Stork Hotel,
where the Roe family used to live, & where, if
I remember aright, Uncle Bold often stopped
in his journeys to or from Booth, when I was
one of his pupils. – I must say that Queen
Square, once in the height of fashion, looks very
forlorn in the aspect it now wears.
today
As I was ascending the store stair-case ^ in
the building where Cropper Hodgson & Co’s office is,
I met Mr. W. Barber, formerly of N. Orleans. It was
the first time we had met since I came here;
& I took him into my little room, where we
had quite a long talk as to American Affairs
& other matters. – He owns very little Cotton. He
said his Brokers in his absence had sold him
out, all but 50 bales. He shewed me a Sterling
bill for some £200 to £300 dated N. Orleans 22
Nov:, which had been sent him for arrears
of Rent of some of his real estate there. He said
that if the money had been collected & remitted
when it was due, it would have been at 90 [underscored] to
92% [underscored] Exchange, but this bill cost 122½ [underscored] %!
He asked what was the lawful tender for payment
now at N.O.; & I told him the paper issues of
the C.S.A. treasury. He seemed to think it hard,
that in payt. of bills, for which his agent was
require
compelled to sue, the Court did not ^ Specie! [underscored]
[3]
I told him he might consider himself lucky
in getting any payt. at all! – He then went on
to speak of the Gt. Eastern steamship, in which,
being a considerable shareholder & a director, he
takes, by his own account, a warmer interest
than in anything else. (He is fond of telling
his friends of his ill [underscored] luck; for he used to say
in days of yore, that if you speak of your success [underscored],
you make people hate [underscored] you!) He maintains that
the G. Eastern will yet be found profitable, not-
-withstanding her mishaps hitherto. He says
she will be sent to N. York ‘err long (supposing
the Trent difficulty amicably settled.) & that
in order to carry cargo up to her capacity,
she will come down Long Island Sound & load
& unload at Morrissana. – Despite, however, of
all that he says in her praise. I shall not
take passage by her, even if her time of departure
should tally with that when I am ready to leave.
I met today one Mr. Atkinson, who used
to live at Charleston as junior partner of Jos.
Butler Clough, & who in my ‘prentice days was
an apprentice with Crowden Clough & Co. – I stop=
=ped him to ask whether there was any like-
=lihood of a subscription being started here for
the relief of the sufferers by this terrible fire
at Charleston. He said he did not know;
whereupon I remarked that if there was, I
should be glad to be a contributor, altho’
I am a thorough going Unionist.
[4]
When talking with Mr. Menlove & Joe. Yeoman
today, I repeated this intention; but Joe said
“Of course you can give what money [underscored] you like to
such an object, but you must not enter your
name [underscored] on the list.”? I replied the putting down my
name is the very thing I desire, to shew my good
will, for the money I should give would in itself
not be of the least consequence. – He of course
meant me to understand that if I sit down my
name I should be deemed disloyal to the Union,
& perhaps be rewarded with quarters in Fort Lafay
=ette! – He said that when he left N. York, there
was some talk of opening a subscription there
for this object. – I heartily wish the talk may
end in action, & that the example might be
followed in Boston, above all other places, & generally
in the Northern cities: for I think it would do far
more for re-union than all that Army or Navy
can ever accomplish. – It would also serve to
put to silence the disparagement of Northern
character now so prevalent in the Times & other
English papers. – I look upon this great Charles
=ton calamity as a golden opportunity for im=
=planting good will instead of hatred & malice.
“If your enemy hunger, feed him, if he thirst
give him drink &c.”? –
I am glad that Walker has got these 2 permits
for visiting Rutson & Fontaine.
out
Thurlow Weed has come ^ with a letter in the pap
or review of
=pers in answer to ^ that of Mr. F. Maury to Admi
-ral Fitzroy: & I have seen an extract or two from
[5]
it, but not the entire letter.
Yesterday I enclosed to Matthew the press copy
of my 1st. Jany letter to Mr. Fredk. Rodewald Today
I have an answer. He writes thus: –
“Let me, first of all, heartily return your good
wishes for the New Year, & thank you for your
interesting communication. – I am much occu=
=pied today, but must not withhold from you
my conviction that War between the North & Eng
=land is inevitable, even if M & S are given
up, of which I have no hope. – They [underscored] will not [underscored]
be given up, I think. – I feel confident that
the Southern ports will be open before April. But
be
where will then ^ the Vessels be to carry the Cotton?
In fact no large amount of Cotton can possi=
=bly come to hand within the next 6 months; &
altho’ I look for War, I consider a shilling per lb.
cheap for Middling Orleans. – I have no Cotton
& never expect to have any again. – The New
York banks could not suspend; as of their 38½
millions $ of specie, 35 belong to Mr. Chase. And
if they had suspended, this would always have
been payable in Gold. They hold already, after
deducting all sales to the public, 70 millions $
of the U.S. loan – a little more than their en=
=tire Capital – & they are entirely ruined.”?
This last idea is highly consolatory to
those holding Bank of Commerce, or other Bank
Stock! But I might add, “Where ignorance is
bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise.”? – As to the open
=ing
[6]
-ing of the So. ports, Mr. R- no doubt calculates
on its being forcibly [underscored] accomplished by the joint
action of English & French fleets. Whilst I was
at his house, he told me, as a fact, that he
knew that for months past, the French Govt. had
been urging that of England to join it in breaking
up the Blockade, in order to get at the Cotton.
I did not believe such to be the fact, tho’ I did
not like to contradict him. But admitting it were
so, I have no idea that this Govt. would cooperate
in any such proceeding. – I consider the whole
danger now to a holder of Cotton (just as I did
before the Trent affair) to be that of No. & So. shak-
=ing hands, either for Re-union or Separation. But
I do not place much, or indeed any, reliance in
Mr. Chase’s idea that the No. will obtain by arms
such successes in January [underscored] as to quell Secession.
The only instrument of force that can do this
is the mere locking up of the Cotton, & the suffering
& privation it necessarily entails upon the South.
I consider this Major-Genl. Phelps a complete
blockead, & I trust that, like Fremont, he will
be promptly recalled. –
There was a rumour this afternoon that Mason
& Slidell had been surrendered. – I do not believe in
such news having yet arrived, tho’ I am daily ex
-pecting it. – I expect to sell a little more Cotton
tomorrow. – Mr. Hodgson told me that by 3 o’clock
today most of the holders had withdrawn their
Cotton from the market.
I felt much crest-fallen 4 days ago, when the
[7]
the stock of cotton was counted & found to be
so very largely in excess of what it ought to
have been according to the previous estimates.
It seemed to me like another “slip ‘twixt cup &
lip”?, & I was repenting of not having sold some
a day or two previously. But for this error in
stock, the 140 bales I sold today at 12½d. (where=
=with I hope Walker [underscored] may feel content) would
probably have commanded 13d. –
I had a talk today with Mr. Robt. L. Bolton. He told ^me
exactly agrees with mine
that his conclusion ^ as to the present weekly rate
of consumption being 32,000 bales of all kinds: but
he thought that in setting down 12,000 of it as con=
=sisting of Surats, I went too far, or in other words
that more than 16,000 of it are American. – With
such a reduction in the production of Cloth &
Twist, we ought surely to have shortly an in=
=crease in demand & price for Cloth & Yarn. –
Matthew intimates a hope that I may have
bot. some Cotton at about 10d. during the Trent
depression; but I think I shewed courage enough
in not having offered any for sale since Oct. until
the rebound of the last 3 days. – I thought we had
quite enough at stake.
The ladies in Welfield Place approve of my sales,
& I fancy would like me to be now selling more
freely. – Of course they are very competent judges.
At any rate they take a warm interest in our
success. –
I think we ought to feel deeply indebted to Messrs
Cropper Hodgson & Co. and R. Benson & Co. for holding
our cotton so long, & letting me do as I pleased with it.
[8]
Miss Maury
4 Janry. – I have enclosed in Mary Bold’s letter
a slip from today’s paper, of the marriage of
Alfred James. – Yours affectionately
R Maury.
