A website from the Massachusetts Historical Society; founded 1791.

Diary of Charles Francis Adams, 1861

Tuesday 19th

19 November 1861

Thursday 21st

21 November 1861
20 November 1861
290
Wednesday 20th
Ossington
CFA

1861-11-20

AM

After the boisterous night, the sight of the sun and the green grass again was cheering. Mr Denison like a sensible man has contented himself with enlarging and improving the house he inherited, so that it is comfortable and convenient without the unpleasant effect of loading down his property. We left the pair very favorably impressed He is a favorable specimen of the English country gentleman of the present day. Liberal, intelligent, many and courteous. His Wife is the daughter of the last Duke of Portland, and is also a favourable specimen of the female nobility of the kingdom. Her manners are natural and pleasing, she has good taste and some cultivation. There is nothing of the pretension, or what the French would call “morgue” which is sometimes visible among them. We left them with a very pleasant recollection of our visit. He accompanied us in the carriage to Newark, where he had business, and we got back safely to London by a little after four o’ clock. Here I found my Despatches and the newspapers, all of which kept me absorbed as usual the rest of the evening. The tone of the instructions is sufficiently aggression to render my duty a highly responsible one. Much as I regret the mistakes that have been committed by the government here, so long as I consider them only suck, I shall endeavour to keep the peace with them. Any other policy seems to me to be fatal.

Cite web page as:

Charles Francis Adams, Sr., [date of entry], diary, in Charles Francis Adams, Sr.: The Civil War Diaries (Unverified Transcriptions). Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 2015. http://www.masshist.org/publications/cfa-civil-war/view?id=DCA61d324