Letter from Samuel Joseph May, Syracuse, [New York], to Mary Anne Estlin, 1863 Feb[ruary] 14

Samuel Joseph May writes to Mary Anne Estlin in regards to his domestic, parochial, and public affairs. He writes of the National Freedman's Relief Association's plans. When the American Civil War ends, he hopes this organization will supersede the American Anti-Slavery Society's responsibilties. They have already done much for the cause, such as sending boxes of clothing to Port Royal as well as "two excellent female teachers." He writes his dismay that his friends in England "fail to discern the real cause of our horrid war, to see its inevitable tendency, and to rejoice with us that slavery is to be undermined and overthrown, whether our politicians & statesmen intend it or not." He finds it surprising that so many English abolitionists support the rebels over the loyal states. He says the Democratic party have "led to act & vote as if the rights of slaveholders were more sacred than the rights of man." He is disappointed by English abolitionists' lack of faith in the Union and their support for the "Southern oligarchy, because the President of our Republic and many of our leading statesmen, who are not now and never were abolitionists, have declared the preservation of the Union, not the abolition of slavery--to be their main object. Few of our politicians have looked at slavery from a moral point of sight." He discusses current politics and is pleased that antislavery meetings in Great Britain are "coming to the right view of the subject and that the morality of England may hereafter frown indiginantly upon the sympathy and aid which have hiterto come so abundantly from your country to the rebels." He writes his predictions on the outcome of the war. He asks that she share his letter with Mr. Chapman, Mr. Hill, and other friends. He lastly writes about his times spent in England. Parker Pillsbury is expected to visit him in the following week. His postscript says he included a small photograph and asks her to send his regards to other mutual friends. He includes a second note two days later with more news of affairs and friends. He is grieved to hear of the ill health of [S. Alfred] Steinthal and of the bereaved Richard D[avis] Webb.

Courtesy of Boston Public Library

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1863

Boston Public Library

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