NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE, Oct. 10, 1862.
I have pleasure, dear friend, in sending you £5 for your
"contrabands," in response to your last letter of the 17th ult.
It is not much, but may be a little help. It will be forwarded
by our valued and mutual friend, H.H. Garnet, to whom I am
sending a remittance for his "contrabands," by the same mail.
We shall be interested in any particulars you may like to send
us, of these poor creatures, but at the same time, I dare not
hold out any hopes of considerable assistance from England, for
our own manufacturing districts are in a starving state, from
the absence of the accustomed supply of cotton, and till this
has been grown in other quarters, they will continue to have a
strong claim on every thoughtful mind. Some of us would rather
work with your colored people _in your own cause_, than with any
one else, for we _do not like the war_, and do not at all
approve of "the American churches" committing themselves to it
so fearfully. If your President had but taken the step at first,
he is taking now, what rivers of blood might have been stayed!
It is remarkable, how you, as a people, have been preserved to
each other, without having your own hands stained with blood.
But as to expatriation, the very thought of it is foolish. You
have been brought to America, not emigrated to it, and who on
earth has any possible right to send you away? Some of us are
almost as much displeased with the North, for talking of this,
as with the South for holding you in Slavery. What can we say to
you, but "watch and pray," "hope and wait," and surely, in His
own good time, the Most High will make you a pathway out of
trouble. We are delighted to hear of the good behaviour of your
people, wherever they have a fair chance of acting (on the
borders), as upright men and Christians.
Very sincerely, your friend,
To WILLIAM STILL. ANNA H. RICHARDSON.