15. Grove. Terrace.
Leeds. Dec^r 10^th/63

My dear friend Frederick,

Never was a long-looked for letter more welcome to anxious friends than your's of 18^th Nov: which reached us on last Monday morning—We are all thankful that you are still in Rochester & that the dangerous talk of recruiting in the South is given up! You must please bear in mind my friend, that now the welcome & ever looked for "F. Douglass' paper" is given up our only news of your well being must come from letters to your friends. so pray write often, if but briefly. The rumour of Confederate doings in Canada communicated by Lord Lyons seemed to us to render your towns near the lakes, in some jeopardy—but I trust all that

danger is over the plot fully discovered & never to be renewed. Poor dear Lewis—I trust he will soon recover, give him my kind regards, with sincere sympathy & commendations of his bravery. I feel that I should like to see him & them all again. Remember me kindly to Mrs. Douglass & to Rose. Who is she to be married to? I hope you and her mother approve the match? I shall always be glad to hear of her welfare, & shall like her "carte" to accompany your's, if she will send it, with your's. With this you will receive my "carte" & Lizzie's; I hope you approve the likenesses of both. You have a likeness of the Doctor. He has had no other taken. Be so kind as to send us two likenesses of yourself—since Lizzie & I have books & one in my book will not satisfy her. The children are starting books of their own, for "cartes" & I expect they will each want a likeness of the never forgotten "Uncle Fredrick", for whom little Martha

prays, as usual, every night.

I have great pleasure, my dear friend, in sending you the enclosed Bill for £27-10. £20 of this comes from our ever active working friend M^rs Robberds of Liverpool, for your own disposal, in what way you please. £7-10 is from Sheffield to be divided between your work & the Contraband Relief Asso: I advise your handing over £3-10 of it to the Washington Society, when you go there to lecture, & my dear friend when you send me the acknowledgment of these donations, make reference again to what you are now doing, in the way of lecturing; as well as to the Washington Relief asso: for which ask our aid direct. I will calculate what you write to me on these points. I find that some of our Anti-Slavery Societies are completely stultified, & make great

mistakes—I send you the Glasgow Paper! alas! for their ignorance A new female Secretary- & poor John Smith dead—& above all the belief that you are gone to fight in the South, & for that purpose have left your paper are great stumbling blocks—You were dear Frederick, too hasty with that valedictory—quite too hasty. I have worked so hard, & tried so hard to keep our Quaker friends, that of course I feel grieved they should now turn aside—You & I see eye to eye—that there are more frightful evils than war, & that Slavery is one of those evils—but, your work, has been, & still is, so extensive, in behalf of yr people, that the work of recruiting under such dangerous circumstances, you could well afford to leave to others—now you have no paper. I don't see how you can reply to the Glasgow Society's new statements.

5. Time makes great changes in us all, outwardly; & when you & I meet we shall I doubt not, see each other looking much older; & the Doctor works so hard & thinks so closely, that he is aging fast also; & you very dear friend, Frederick, are travelling so continuously, up & down that vast country & seem to rest so little that, I feel very sad when I think of the perpetual wear & tear you must have & all the bitter disappointments too that have come with the reign of President Johnson: Henry Ward Beecher's defection is talked of by my liberal friends—& viewed differently. Some blame him—others refer to "law & order" & even vindicate Johnson; Saying he could not do differently; I had a long & fierce argument

with an intelligent gentleman in this neighborhood last week: much of the misery of the freed people, evidently so traceable to the gross injustice of their oppressors, he explained by the impossibility inability of the people to take care of themselves!!! I verily lost all patience:—& did so wish you had been on the spot to speak for yourself——You write often sadly about home matters. Where are all the boys?—and how is the little granddaughter? is she named Annie—Remember me very kindly to Mrs. Douglass, Rose and all the boys. What is Lewis doing now he cannot teach that school? Alas! What a great work is yet to be done! How very grieved I am with my ci-devant friend, Gov. Seward:

"He did very well" for a time. Shame on him to forsake a people & a cause just in their extremity. Yes dear friend I often allow myself to hope that I may, one day, see the little grandchildren walking under those dear old trees, whose upward growth I used to watch years ago with so much interest. But every thing here below is so changeable & so uncertain. Now dear friend you dropped a line at the close of your letter, about the possibility of your coming to England before long. I doubt not that yr presence here w^d do much to allay or disperse the anti-Negro feeling so strangely prevalent in our free old England—

This is our third year in Hanley & until the laws of the Wesleyans are altered that is the longest time (3 years) a minister can stay in one town on active service. Therefore we must (V. O.) move the last week of June 1867- somewhere. These are early days for

any definite plans being made——& whether we shall re-enter Yorkshire, go into Lancashire or to Bristol, I as yet know not but will give you my friend, early intimation any where a warm welcome will await you—only don't come just when we are leaving from Hanley—& pray do keep me fully apprized of your movements. We have a very nice residence here—& are surrounded by wealth & affluence on all sides of our large congregation—but there is no sympathy on the slavery subject—all are dead or worse than dead in that matter. You w^d revive some of them I doubt not—but I have done nothing effectual—all say you (F.D.) are an exception to a general rule!! Pray write again before long. Send me Fred's & Charlie's cartes—& Rose's too. All join me in very kind love- & believe me as ever Your true & faithful friend

Julia G. Crofts

I sent Miss Smith an extract from your last letter yesterday, a few hours after their paper reached me! I believe in promptitude, you know, as well as in activity. I advise you to write to her, when you have read their absurd resolutions, & state your position & that of the Contrabands, begging the Glasgow friends not to cease their efforts—I have been daily looking for funds from Coventry—difficulties have arisen & other channels for their donations are suggested, M^rs A. H. R. having told them you were gone South—I sent your Sep^r letter to Coventry, to show you were yet in Rochester—Sending that same letter to M^rs Robberds secured this year's £20—for you—so bear in mind, my dear f^d, that if you spend a little time in writing to your old friend, it not

only is an act of friendship, but does good in many ways. I hope this packet will reach you by Christmas—but am not quite sure about it, now that the winds are so wild & high—The Doctor & all here join me in very kind love—warm sympathy & earnest prayers that you may be preserved amidst all the danger around you—& that your boys may escape the fire shot of their fiendish foes—We are all tolerably well. No one of us quite so, but Matty——You do not have any Rochester friends of the old or new Society. I sometimes shudder when I think of all the delusions of those queer worthies! & pray that you may be "kept, by the power of God," from all foes, bodily & spiritual. Our Heavenly Father has, thus far, wonderfully preserved you, my dear f^d & will do so to the end, if you commit yourself to His guidance——Darling Annie is safe from sorrow & from sin. May we join her, by & bye, in her happy home. Heaven bless you!—Your ever faithful & affectionate friend,

Julia G. Crofts