BIB_ID
197346
Accession number
MA 13671
Creator
Carlyle, Thomas, 1795-1881.
Display Date
1870 September 22.
Credit line
Bequest of Gordon N. Ray, 1987.
Description
1 item (3 pages) ; 20.4 x 12.6 cm
Notes
Letter dictated by Carlyle to his niece, Mary Aitken, with his signature.
The Confederate journalist John Reuben Thompson, of Richmond, Virginia, was the editor of the New York evening post and former editor of the Southern Literary Messenger and The Southern Field and Fireside; Thompson had not taken part in the Civil War due to health reasons, having opted instead to go to London in 1864, where he had supported the Confederacy and opposed the abolition of slavery by writing articles for English magazines. Thompson presented himself to Carlyle shortly after his arrival in England, bearing a letter of recommendation by the late southern General Stonewall Jackson by way of introduction. Carlyle was, by this time, well known to be an outspoken defender of slavery, racist ideology, and detractor of abolitionism, having authored the notorious essay "Occasional Discourse on the Negro Question" in 1849, in which he openly argued in support of slavery on the grounds of racial inferiority. Despite his public claims to neutrality on the subject of the American Civil War, he had likewise made little secret of his sympathy for the Confederate cause in his private correspondence with friends and associates like Thompson who shared his views.
Written on black-edged mourning stationery.
The opening portion of Carlyle's letter evidently refers to the receipt of a portrait (possibly in the form of an illustrated periodical) of newly elected Mississippi senator Hiram Revels, the first African American to serve in the U.S. Congress.
The Confederate journalist John Reuben Thompson, of Richmond, Virginia, was the editor of the New York evening post and former editor of the Southern Literary Messenger and The Southern Field and Fireside; Thompson had not taken part in the Civil War due to health reasons, having opted instead to go to London in 1864, where he had supported the Confederacy and opposed the abolition of slavery by writing articles for English magazines. Thompson presented himself to Carlyle shortly after his arrival in England, bearing a letter of recommendation by the late southern General Stonewall Jackson by way of introduction. Carlyle was, by this time, well known to be an outspoken defender of slavery, racist ideology, and detractor of abolitionism, having authored the notorious essay "Occasional Discourse on the Negro Question" in 1849, in which he openly argued in support of slavery on the grounds of racial inferiority. Despite his public claims to neutrality on the subject of the American Civil War, he had likewise made little secret of his sympathy for the Confederate cause in his private correspondence with friends and associates like Thompson who shared his views.
Written on black-edged mourning stationery.
The opening portion of Carlyle's letter evidently refers to the receipt of a portrait (possibly in the form of an illustrated periodical) of newly elected Mississippi senator Hiram Revels, the first African American to serve in the U.S. Congress.
Provenance
Bequest of Gordon N. Ray, 1987.
Summary
Confirming the receipt of an image of the recently announced Black senator from Mississippi (Hiram Revels) and adding racist and derogatory observations on Revels's personal appearance; acknowledging receipt of a gift of tobacco from Thompson which was evidently intended for himself and Alfred Tennyson, expressing his hope that Tennyson did not want his share of the gift, noting that he has has not seen him since Thompson's departure, and that his share of the tobacco was twice demanded by "an insolent Moxonite fellow" to whom Carlyle gave the tobacco following his second demand for it; stating that, while he is not in poor health for his age, he suffers from weakness and shaking of his right hand, an affliction which requires him to dictate his letters to his "nimble little niece".
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