Charles Francis Adams To His Son London, June 21,1861 With respect to his [Sumner’s] language about Governor Seward I very much regret it for the sake of the public interest. He is sowing the seeds of discord where we ought to have a more perfect union. He is disseminating distrust in our Government when it [...]
Boston, June 18, 1861 Before this reaches you, you will have heard of the miserable affair at Great Bethel which has made so much noise here. You see a Quincy man was killed – young Souther, a brother of our one-armed friend. Our flags out there were hung at half mast for a day and [...]
Charles Francis Adams To His Son London, June 14, 1861 My position here thus far has not been difficult or painful. If I had followed the course of some of my colleagues in the diplomatic line this country might have been on the high road to the confederate camp before now. It did not seem [...]
Boston, June 10, 1861 I am sorry to see what you say of the possibility of your demanding your passports. Stocks rose in New York on Saturday owing to the reported tenor of your despatches, which must however have been of a tone very different from your letter to me. Still I can’t help thinking [...]
London, June 7, 1861 For after all that may be said, there is not and cannot be any assimilation of manners and social habits between Americans and English people. All intercourse with the aristocratic class is necessarily but formal. We are invited everywhere, and dine out almost every day, but this brings us no nearer. [...]
Boston, June 3, 1861 The war affords them [of Quincy] some diversion for their thoughts and the clash of arms is heard even among the Quincy exempts, who hail John Captain. I drilled them the other evening and a funnier sight I don’t want to see. Imagine a line of pot-bellied, round-shouldered respectabilities of fifty [...]
Charles Francis Adams, Jr., To His Father Quincy, May 27, 1861.—I got out here last Saturday evening, having that day been relieved at Fort Independence by the 4th Battalion of rifles. We would like to have stayed there longer, and were certainly arriving at a state of very considerable proficiency in drill, but our being [...]
Charles Francis Adams To His Mother Fort Independence, May 12, 1861 The truth is that in garrison life, with guard duty three times in two weeks, five hours drill a day and the necessity of waiting on oneself, it is difficult either to write or read much in a room about the size of our [...]