Halifax August 5^th /64

Dear Mr. Douglass

We were very glad to see your handwriting again tho' the contents of your letters are not altogether satisfactory. You write less hopefully about the state of things in America, & the prospects of the colored people than do some of M^r Carpenter's American correspondents—& I am sure it is no wonder that you cannot take a very cheering view of things when you see so much injustice, & suffering as its consequence amongst the freed negroes. I am glad to hear that you are going

to visit the freedmen at Washington and Alexandria I can well suppose that a visit from you would be a real blessing to them, & it must be a pleasure to you to see so many who have actually escaped from slavery—tho' they are still far from being in possession of the rights which as freeman they are entitled to. I cannot tell you how much we should like to hear from you after your visit—do tell us some thing about the people you see, & how they are getting on. You will perhaps find out whether our box of clothing has reached the right people—and was such as they wanted. Please to tell me what our ladies Society can & ought to do now? it is but very little you know that we do effect—but something we might do if something definite were given us to do? Would it be a good thing to send another box, next winter,—of clothing—to the same society?—or would

money be more useful to them, to lay out on the spot? Or what you yourself engaged in any anti-slavery work for which we might ask a grant of money—(alas! it would be a pitiably small one I fear) from our Society?

I have been copying out a great part of your very interesting letter which we shall send to the Inquirer. By the way you will I think receive an Inquirer from M^rs Crofts containing

a review by Mr Carpenter of Mr. Conway's book, "Testimonies Concerning Slavery."

I wonder whether Mr. LincolnLincoln, Abraham

Whig turned Republican Illinois politician Abraham Lincoln (1809-65) was sworn in as the sixteenth president of the United States on 4 March 1861. Douglass met Lincoln at the White House in 1863 and was charmed by the president's earnest political consideration of emancipation. A year later Lincoln granted Douglass's request that his son Charles be discharged from the Army because of illness. Douglass met in private with Lincoln on 19 August 1864, when they discussed stepping up efforts to recruit slaves to the Union's cause. Lincoln was elected to a second term in November 1864, and Douglass attended his inauguration festivities. James M. McPherson, Abraham Lincoln and the Second American Revolution (New York, 1990), 109, 134-35, 139; Phillip Shaw Paludan, The Presidency of Abraham Lincoln (Lawrence, Kans., 1994), 4-5, 15-16, 183, 285-87; McFeely, Frederick Douglass, 229-35. will be reelected President—or if not whether any more thorough anti-slavery man will take his place—it is much disgraceful that the government should be as false to their engagements with their colored soldiers.

We sympathize very much with you in the painful anxiety you have been living in while your sons have been with the army

the constant anxiety about them added to what you feel for the whole Country & especially for all the Colored people, must be very wearing to you. You must remember that now your paper is given up entirely more than ever for letters from you—if you are silent we are quite in the dark about you or yours, so please to write as often as you conveniently can. I am leaving home next Monday for a few weeks in Somersetshire, amongst my many relations and friends there. M^r CarpenterCarpenter, Russell Lant

The Reverend Russell Lant Carpenter (1816-92), a Unitarian minister, spent his childhood in Bristol, England. He attended Bristol College in preparation for a life of ministry, continued his studies at Manchester and York Colleges and was one of the first to graduate from London University in 1840. Carpenter became intensely involved in the temperance movement and subsequently quit his pastorate at Bridgwater, England, since part of the church's endowment came from taverns selling liquors. In August 18-19 he journeyed to the United States, where he spent a full year preaching from Montreal to St. Louis to Boston. His father, Dr. Lant Carpenter, was a well-known teacher whose Unitarian writings were already known to the antislavery men of the day. Thus, Carpenter became acquainted with Garrison, Douglass, and others. Having returned to England, he married in 1853 and continued his ministerial work there until his death. His works include Memoirs of Lant Carpenter (1842), Discourses and Devotional Services (1849), A Monotessaron (1851), and a biography about his brother, Philip, Memoirs of the Life and Work of Philip Pearsall Carpenter (1880). Carpenter also contributed frequently to the Inquirer and to other periodicals. London Inquirer, 30 January 1892. is not going with me I am sorry to say, so he will have a solitary time of it while I am enjoying myself. He will add a note so I think I must end or he will have no room. We very often think & talk of you & wonder when we shall see you in England once more.

Believe me to remain always most sincerely yrs

Mary CarpenterCarpenter, Mary Browne

Mary Browne Carpenter (c. 1824–98) was the wife of the prominent Unitarian minister Russell Lant Carpenter (1819–92). They were married in Bridgwater, Somersetshire, in 1853. She was one of four daughters born to William Browne, a wealthy Unitarian merchant, and his wife, Mary. William Browne served as mayor of Bridgwater in 1854. In addition to her support of the antislavery effort, Mary Browne Carpenter was also deeply involved in the woman suffrage movement, belonging to one of the more radical suffrage societies in Bridport. She also supported the animal rights and temperance movements. 1841 England Census, Gloucestershire, Bristol, 22; “England and Wales, Christening Records, 1530–1906,” FamilySearch.org; “England and Wales, Death Index, 1837–1915,” FamilySearch.org; “England and Wales, Marriage Index, 1837–1915,” FamilySearch. org; “England and Wales, Non-Conformist Records Indexes, 1588–1977,” FamilySearch.org; Elizabeth Crawford, The Women’s Suffrage Movement in Britain and Ireland: A Regional Survey (New York, 2006), 161, 169.She has not been identified by name.