5277. Theodore Tilton to RB
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 30, 295–296.
the year of freedom.
THE INDEPENDENT,
editorial office,
No. 5 Beekman St., New York,
Sept. 24, 1863.
Robert Browning—Esq,
My friend,
It has just occurred to me that I never gave you the definite information which I promised concerning the £250 which Mr. Miller put into my hands in trust for you. [1] It is deposited with E. T. H. Gibson & Co, [2] a well-known firm in this city, subject to your call at any moment, but drawing 7 per cent—while it remains. Mr. Gibson is a special friend of Mr. Beecher. [3]
The book of Essays does not sell prosperously, as Mr. Miller informs me. In fact, people just now are reading nothing but newspapers with news of the War.
The Good Cause prospers steadily against its many enemies both at home and abroad. Gen. Rosecrans has just met with a check in Tennessee, [4] but the affair is about equally bad and good for both sides; as thus far reported. The Proclamation of Freedom [5] and the changed policy of the government consequent thereupon, are lifting the struggle with greater moral dignity every day. Intelligence comes this morning that Earl Russell will stop the Rams [6] —the best word from England for a year. May God keep the two countries from a quarrel–
I never forget you, but wear out your books with constant reading.
Yours fraternally,
Theodore Tilton.
Publication: None traced.
Manuscript: University of Virginia.
1. For the right to publish the American edition of The Greek Christian Poets and the English Poets (see letter 5187).
2. Edmund Trowbridge Hastings Gibson (1818–68), New York City broker, with offices at 54 W. 25th Street.
3. Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87); see letter 4642, note 24.
4. Tilton refers to the Battle of Chickamauga, fought over three days from 18 to 20 September 1863 near Chickamauga Creek in northwest Georgia, about 12 miles due south of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Union forces, commanded by Gen. William S. Rosecrans (1819–98), were defeated by the Confederates, led by Gen. Braxton Bragg (1817–76). Rosecrans retreated to Chattanooga, which Bragg surrounded and besieged. With total casualties numbering close to 35,000, it was the second bloodiest battle of the war.
5. The Emancipation Proclamation was issued by President Abraham Lincoln on 1 January 1863. Among other provisions, it states: “I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States [i.e., those in rebellion], and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free.”
6. Known as the Laird rams, these were two warships built for the Confederacy by John Laird, Sons & Co., a British shipbuilding firm based at Birkenhead, though construction took place in Scotland. “The two rams, outfitted with iron prongs on their bows, were intended to destroy the Union gunboats enforcing the blockade” of Confederate ports (Rodney P. Carlisle, Civil War and Reconstruction, New York, 2008, p. 178). When Charles F. Adams learned of their being built, he protested to the British Foreign minister, Lord John Russell. The rams never made it to the Confederacy. “They were finally purchased by the British government in October 1863” (p. 178).
___________________
