.MzAx.NDE4
[1]
11 Welfield Place – Liverpool
Wednesday 22 January 1862
Dear Ann
It is after dinner – about 7½ p.m.
Laura is knitting. Elizabeth taking her customary
nap in her easy chair, & Mary just gone to give
her aid at the night school, so I postpone my
nightly task of reading aloud the various articles of
the London Times until Mary’s return; and in the
meantime am adapting your plan of writing,
just when you can ["just...can" underscored], without attempting to complete
the letter at the first intention.
I was ½ an hour behind that appointed for din-
-ner today in consequence of having so much to
do in writing out a fair copy of Fontaine’s
Memoir & of his letter to his uncle Horatio, so
as to get it off, & my own letter to Matthew on the
subject, in time for the City of Balto. – On reper=
=using, just now, Horatio Hughes’ note of 20th to
me, I see I made a mistake in supposing he
said – “but no doubt his case is already in Mr.
Evarts’ [underscored] hands.”? The name he wrote is Ewarts [underscored]
(Joe [underscored] Ewart M.P. [underscored]) – His writing is very hard
have
to read. – I supposed he might ˄ heard, as I
did from Mr. John Wood (Isaac, Low & Co.) that
Messrs Low and Green of Savannah had employ
=ed Mr. Evarts, the lawyer in N. York, as their
counsel to obtain their liberation. And I may
add that I understood in my last talk with Mr.
Wood, that Mr. Low is already released. But
anyhow, I think Mr. Evarts a suitable lawyer
to employ on be[half?] [a portion is missing] nephews
[2]
As to Joe Ewart I have no idea that he,
however willing, could accomplish anything:
and I have no idea of his being called upon
to exert himself upon such a statement as
this memoir which Fontaine has drawn up
& sent to his uncle Horatio. It has an air of
“injured innocence”? [underscored] about it, & tho’ true, it is
so [struckthrough] far from conveying the whole [underscored] truth; and in
reality, therefore, it is deceptive [underscored], & thus quite out
of keeping with Fontaine’s disposition & character.
Moreover it might be very injurious to Mr.
Consul Mure, that it should be known that he,
or his locurn-terrcus, had abused his office by
enclosing in a bag, bearing the Consular seal,
a quantity of matter, which everybody knew
was altogether contraband [underscored]. – Such doings were
directly at variance with Lord Lyons’ instructions
to the Consuls at the So. ports. – A consul so
acting would have no just cause of complaint
if his “Exequatur”? were withdrawn; & would at
least deserve severe rebuke from Lord Lyons. –
The offence of these lads was being caught
in the act of smuggling letters from No. [underscored] to So.,
& not in any Consular bag, but simply stowed
away in their trunks. How, then, can Fontaine
pretend to consider himself, when thus seized,
as an “Agent of the British Govt.”?! Of course
such a plea is utterly preposterous; and our
good friend Joe Ewart would be rather indig=
=nant, I should [a portion is missing] [?] ding himself
[3]
made a tool of for any such trumped up case.
Washington direct [underscored] is the quarter to apply to,
& a good lawyer, such as Mr. Evarts, is the fit-
=test agent. –
According to my notion, too, he best plea is
to plead guilty at once ["plead...once" underscored], & then to ask for
mercy [underscored] upon the grounds of necessity [underscored] & poverty [underscored].
The crime, in a moral point of view, is ex-
=ceedingly trivial, & the punishment already in-
-flicted, in 9 weeks durance in winter, must be
considered as far beyond what it deserved.
But unless more energetic steps be taken for their
release, there is no telling how long Mr. Seward
may keep these two lads confined. And I am
not only willing, but desirous [underscored], to take upon my
-self the whole expense of any proceedings that
are likely to accomplish their release.
To oblige Elizabeth Bold, I made a copy of the
interesting narration of Mrs. Ricketts, as contained
in your two last letters. After various interruptions
I completed this task yesterday: & then I took a
press [underscored] copy of it, which I enclosed, with a
note of my own, to Mrs. Cropper, & suggested that
when she had done with it, it might be sent
on for the edification of Mary Wakefield & her
brother John, & Mrs. Weston. –
This evening I have a note of acknowledgment
from Mrs. Cropper, as follows:
“My dear Mr. Maury I have been exceedingly
interested in the [missing] sent
me from Ann’s [missing]
[4]
to you for sending them to me. – Several have
already seen them, & felt greatly interested [underscored] in
the accounts; & I intend to send them to the
North as soon as we have all read them
I think you can hardly feel greater in=
=terest than I do in the state of things in your
country.
I must tell you a little incident I heard
this morning of the late Prince. – When he
was to ill to be fit to rise, he insisted on
reading Lord Russell’s dispatch to Washington,
& struck out two clauses: - one directing [struckthrough]
limiting the time for decision to two days, &
the other demanding an apology from the
States. - Was not this a most pleas-
=sing act to be one of the last of a public
life? Will you give my love to your Cousins,
& believe me always yours with much regard
Anne Cropper.
This information comes, as the Bolds imagine,
from Lady Trevilyan. – Any how, it is [underscored] a very
pleasing incident, & vastly to the credit both of the
head & heart of the departed Prince.
Mary Bold has returned from the night school,
& Master Willie has also returned, since dinner,
from his sojourn in Hamilton Square.
If a lawyer be employed for the two lads, he must of course
be furnished with a complete [underscored] & intire [struckthrough] entire [underscored] account of all [double underscored] par-
=ticulars, & their motives in carrying the letters, instead of this
mere “gammon”? that Fontaine has written to H. N. Hughes. I fancy
that he expects an uncondit[ional?] [missing] charge: but I agree with
[you in?] [missing] on their part will be
[missing] case.-It were better that
[Vertical Writing, Left Margin, Page 4]
that my criticisms of Fontaine’s letter to H. N. Hughes were witheld from Fontaine.
