[463]To Robert H. Gardiner, Esq., Gardiner.
Newport, R. I., August 29, 1863.When I first wrote to you that I did not like to venture a journey in very hot weather, I had a misgiving that I was standing on pretty slippery ground . . . . Since my last letter, however,—now ten days ago,—Mrs. Ticknor has been constantly in bed, Dr. Barker attending her generally twice a day, and I have been in bed part of the time in a contiguous room, and under his care the whole of it . . . . Yesterday, while I was still confined to my bed, Sir Henry Holland, who visited you at Gardiner a few years ago, came in upon me straight from London. I had a long talk with him, from which I infer that the best chance our friends in England see for us is, that we should continue our victories, until we feel strong and magnanimous enough to proclaim an amnesty, and offer the South to settle everything — a new constitution and all-by a convention. So little do they know . . . . Latrobe of Baltimore, who came in the evening, has a wholly different remedy . . . . . The plan does not seem to me to be wiser than Sir Henry's; but each is as good as any I have heard of. . . . .
To Robert H. Gardiner, Gardiner.
Boston, November 11, 1863.my dear Mr. Gardiner,—I cannot tell you how much I was touched by your letter, which came yesterday afternoon. Two days earlier I had heard of your illness, indistinctly, indeed, as to the form and detail, but decisively as to its character; and the next day I talked the matter over with our old and faithful friend, Mr. Minot, and determined to write to-day to Frederic, as he had already done.1 But your letter leaves me no doubt; I am permitted by not only your Christian equanimity,—of which I never doubted,—but by your clear-sighted comprehension of your own case, to write to you without embarrassment. A position like yours, understood, and accepted as you accept it, is a teaching for all. I recognize it as such, and shall endeavor to profit by it. The time for me must be short, as it must be for everybody who is well past his threescore and ten. I shall write to you from time to time, as I may have anything to
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[463]
1 Mr. Gardiner had become aware that he had a fatal disease, and had written openly and tranquilly upon the subject to his friends.
Boston, J. R. Osgood and company, 1876.
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