London, October 25, 1861
You complain of the manner in which England has been allowed to wheel round. I mean to write a letter to the Times on that matter some day. Do you know the reason why it is so? How do you suppose we can make a stand here when our own friends fail to support us? Look at the Southerners here. Every man is inspired by the idea of independence and liberty while we are in a false position. They are active, you say. So they are, every man of them. There are no traitors among them. They have an object and they act together. Their merchants and friends in Liverpool have been warm and vigorous in their support from the beginning. Ours have been lukewarm, never uttering a hearty word on our side, and the best of them, such as Peabody and the house of Baring’s invariably playing directly into the hands of our opponents. They have allowed the game to go by default. Their talk has been desponding, hesitating, an infernal weight round our necks. How can you suppose that we should gain ground with such allies.
But we might nevertheless have carried the day if the news from home had been such as to encourage our party, which was once strong and willing. You know how much encouragement we have had from your side. Every post has taken away on one hand what it brought of good on the other. It has by regular steps sapped the foundations of all confidence in us, in our institutions, our rulers and our honor. How do you suppose we can overcome the effects of the New York press? How do you suppose we can conciliate men whom our tariff is ruining? How do you suppose we can shut people’s eyes to the incompetence of Lincoln or the disgusting behavior of many of our volunteers and officers.
I tell you we are in a false position and I am sick of it. My one hope is now on McClellan and if he fails us, then as I say I give it up. Here we are dying by inches. Every day our authority, prestige and influence sink lower in this country, and we have the mournful task of trying to bolster up a failing cause. Do you suppose I can go among the newspapers here and maintain our cause with any face, with such backing? Can I pretend to a faith which I did once feel, but feel no longer? I feel not seldom sorry in these days that I did n’t follow my first impulse, and go into the army with the other fellows. Our side wants spirit. It does n’t ring as it ought.
These little ups and downs, this guerilla war in Missouri and Kentucky, amount to nothing but vexation. Oh, for one spark of genius! I have hopes of McClellan for he does n’t seem to have made any great blunders, but I don’t know.
We are all in a lull here. The English Government is perfectly passive and likely to remain so. . . .