From Thomas Gold Appleton 24 April [1862]1
Dear Mr Darwin
I venture to send this to you by my brother Mr William S. Appleton, who leaves us for a summer trip to Old England.2 Though very young he has mature tastes & ways. He is passionately fond of antiquities and if he has the luck to see your Roman camp will be in delight.3 But he chiefly will devote himself to our national & family records with you.4 He is sure to have ⟨a⟩ charming summer, and I ⟨do⟩ not know a better way to see England than just the one he proposes, to hunt up odd bits & ends in out of the way places.—
We are here all impatiently waiting for the continuation of your wonderful book and I think you will find it difficult to excite a greater interest now than did the first. It was something wonderful and Endures yet—5
I am hoping to find some of the “sweet sap” to send the no longer very young people I fear. It will remind them of long ago, and of our maple fruits.6 I ⟨do⟩ not venture to write you about the war. It is a most painful calamity, but we all now firmly believe we could not have avoided it. The South in infatuation and evil-mindedness was determined to ruin us if we did not resist. We shall whip them and probably break up slavery but it requires very philosophic feelings to witness such “a struggle for life” without dismay.7
We feel we have gained at the North whatever betide a higher character and a loftier principle by our sacrifices and endurance.
My best remembrances to Mrs Darwin and the children & believe me | faithfully, | T. G. Appleton—
24th April
Boston.
Footnotes
Bibliography
Concordance: A concordance to Darwin’s Origin of species, first edition. Edited by Paul H. Barrett et al. Ithaca, N.Y., and London: Cornell University Press. 1981.
Gregory, Frances W. 1975. Nathan Appleton: merchant and entrepreneur 1779–1861. Charlottesville, Va.: University Press of Virginia.
Origin: On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1859.
Page, William, ed. 1908. The Victoria history of the county of Kent, vol. 1. London: Archibald Constable.
Page, William, ed. 1932. The Victoria history of the county of Kent vol 3. London: Archibald Constable.
Post Office directory of the six home counties: Post Office directory of the six home counties, viz., Essex, Herts, Kent, Middlesex, Surrey and Sussex. London: W. Kelly & Co. 1845–78.
Smith, Charles Card. 1903. Memoir of William Sumner Appleton, A.M. Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society 2d ser. 17: 516–31.
Summary
Sends letter via his brother visiting England. Awaits continuation of CD’s "wonderful book", which excites much interest.
Comments on Civil War which he expects will end slavery.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-3517
- From
- Thomas Gold Appleton
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Boston Mass.
- Source of text
- DAR 159: 111
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp damaged
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 3517,” accessed on 31 August 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-3517.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 10