Bridport June 30. 1873

Dear Mr. Douglass, your letter gave us the greatest pleasure. I am much touched by your kind remembrance of us in the Era; and thought nothing of the printer's error. (By the way, you continue to associate Bridport with Bridgwater, as is very natural: and address to us in Somersetshire. We are on the Southern coast, in the adjoining county of Dorset, but—for ought I know & there is only one Bridport in the British dominions, and Bridport England is enough). My mother told us we should certainly try & see you; but as she was not likely to know that you were in Washington, I found that she would miss you. I am very glad that you met. Perhaps one Boston friend would think, that a European would expect the capital of the U.S. to be like London, Paris, Berlin, and Vienna, and so warned my sister, lest she sh^d

be disappointed. I should not have misunderstood her remarks about "gratitude" because her feelings against slavery are so intense, that she could not possibly have meant gratitude to their old oppressors! But she must have been struck with the disinterested labors of many who are striving to instruct and elevate those to whose oppression their countrymen are parties.

She sent me a Hampton newspaper, which I mentioned in the accompanying notice, which appeared in the Inquirer last week. (The editor had sent me "the Public [?] for a notice.)

My wife's tour is briefer than, on some accounts, I could have asked, but your country is a difficult one to visit, for invalids. It would have been rash for her to have lived a winter there; and every one told her, that she could do nothing to promote her news after the beginning of July, when all who can afford it are on the move.

It is very gratifying to hear of your comfortable circumstances, and that you do not think it impossible that you might have a distinguished consulship in England. The world moves! Meanwhile you must work yourself too hard. When we were young men together I never particularly expected to reach my present age (56) much less could I have imagined you a patriarch among your people. Do you remember our race on the high road? Of course you beat me, but you explained that you had experience in running away! We little foresaw the race you had yet to run!

I hope you will be able to send me an Era, containing your address at the Congregational Church.

I agree with you that it would be rather a reproach on your own countrymen if you and Gen. Howard came on a tour to which subscriptions, for an object that ought to meet with general support in the U.S. and we suppose that there is plenty of superfluous wealth across the Atlantic, that could not be better employed.

How does the Unitarian Congress at Washington stand as regard your people.

I fear that my correspondent the School master was a trustee there, and caused trouble. I heard no more of him after one brief controversy!

This quiet little town, which I much hope you will come and see, ere long, sends to [illegible] to more stirring regions. Five of my young people—including two married couples—have lately gone to Chicago; where they find that they gain a lift in ideal position. An old friend of my brother Philip's—M^r T. Mouldry, formerly of Warrington, has been very kind to them. M^r M. is quite a leader in the temperance movement. He has just christened his youngest child "Mary Carpenter." I am glad, on my brother's account, that my sister saw the Smithsonian Inst.

Thank you for your kind inquiries. I get on pretty well, and escaped any illness last winter; I can do very little—but there is very little for me to do, which others cannot do as well, or better. My congregatn have chosen a colleague for me.

With kindest remembrances, believe me ever faithfully yours,

R. L. 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.