Autograph letter signed : Rochdale, to Frederick William Chesson, 1866 July 1.

Concerning the actions of Charles Buxton, a member of the Jamaica Committee (see MA 2794.3): "I see no good in the resolution to be proposed by Mr Buxton -- he has destroyed his influence with the House & the public on this Jamaica Question, in my view, by the letter he has published. I think too he has treated the Com[mi]ttee with very little respect -- he did not [divide] the Com[mi]ttee on any resolution, nor did he retire from it, nor did he say that he should publish his letter to you which he read as his speech in the discussion -- but he has published it, whilst no other portion of the discussion has appeared in the Papers. I can go no further with him on this matter. It is absurd & childish to sit on a Com[mi]ttee with a gentleman who, when he differs from nearly all his colleagues, sends his objections to the newspapers, & condemns their policy -- still keeping his place among them"; offering to pay personally for the expenses incurred by the Committee, to contribute funds for the assistance of George William Gordon's widow, Lucy Shannon Gordon (Gordon had been summarily executed during the Morant Bay rebellion), or to lead a group of members, among them John Stuart Mill, Goldwin Smith, and Thomas Hughes, in an appeal to the public; reiterating his opinion on Buxton's resolution: "I take no interest in any resolutions to the House of Commons -- justice & right have no chance there, & never had. To appeal to that assembly only is to let all the guilty escape"; writing that "If Mrs. Gordon proceeds against those who have put her husband to death contrary to law, I am for helping her to the utmost of my power"; adding that he has no objection to Buxton or other members of the Committee seeing this letter.