1895.] ilo [Potts. 



the disgraceful piratical proceedings of his fellow-Englishmen, and sends 

 the Consul the following picturesquely descriptive note : 



" Sir : — There is a steamer called the Eirang Tung in the Birkenhead 

 Dock sails built and Guns on board, said to be for the Chinese and ready- 

 to sail any tide ; she came from the same building yard as the Alabama 

 and it may be worth your while to look after her. She has two masts, 

 wholly or partially brig-rigged, two funnels painted light colour, black 

 hull and light blue paddle boxes, built of iron with a ram bow .... I 

 don't side particularly with North or South but 



" I am 



" No Privateer's man. 



"Liverpool, 1 May, 1863." 



A few of Mr. Bright's letters are marked " private," but this the reader 

 will readily see bears on the time and circumstance, which secrecy above 

 thirty years' distance removes. They all do him the highest honor, and 

 show that his political course and some of his important speeches, which 

 considerably influenced the English people of the liberal sort, were prob- 

 ably to some extent owing to Mr. Dudley's efforts to keep him correctly 

 inlormed. 



"Rochdale, Dec. 29, 1861. 



"■'Dear Sir : — I am very much obliged to you for your kind letter, and 

 I shall be very happy if anything I have said shall contribute to the pres- 

 ervation of peace. 



"There are two nations in England — the governing class and the mil- 

 lions who toil — the former dislike your republic, and their organs inces- 

 santly misrepresent and slander it — the latter have no ill feeling towards 

 you, but are not altogether unaffected by the statements made to your 

 prejudice. I hope however that out of present perils we may see a bright 

 future and a better understanding between your people and ours. 

 "Yours very Sincerely, 



"John Bright. 



"Thos. H. Dudley, Esq., U. S. Consulate, 

 Liverpool." 



"Llandudno, North Wales, Oct. 18, '62. 



" Dear Sir : — I have ordered the Book of which you speak. I read 

 Gasparin's first Book and thought it admirable. 



"I know nothing of Gladstone's speech* except that on the American 

 question it is discreditable to him, and calculated to do mischief. He 

 comes of a family long connected with slavery — and is now the minister 

 in a country where aristocracy rules, and by which a republic is neces- 



*Mr. Adams wrote to Mr. Seward from London, October 17, 1862, regarding Mr. Glad- 

 stone's speech in much the same manner. 



Mr. Adams says later in his letter: "The general opinion now is that he was very 

 indiscreet. But I see no change in the current [of public opinion]. Indeed nothing 

 short of a very decisive victory in Virginia will avail to check it." 



PROC. amkr. philos. see. xxxiv. 147. o. printed may 23, 1895. 



