'Letter from Thomas Ewing to Abraham Lincoln, August 6, 1863'

'Letter from Thomas Ewing to Abraham Lincoln, August 6, 1863'

A letter to the President commenting on the Union's frustrations over the Laird Rams and the potential for war with Britain

Ewing's advice to the president echoes the general sentiment of Union diplomats following the controversy surrounding the response to the Trent in 1861. The issue of British shipyards constructing varied vessels for use in the South's navy quickly became the next prominent issue confronting Anglo-American relations. Acknowledging that the British government was aiding the Confederacy in its inaction against the work on the Laird rams and other  ordered vessels of similar origins, Ewing holds to the view that the Union could ill afford a second battlefront, the course of the Civil War only recently clearly turning in their favor.

Thomas Ewing

Library of Congress, Abraham Lincoln papers: Series 1. General Correspondence. 1833-1916; Digitized online at https://www.loc.gov/item/mal2537300/

Digitized by the Library of Congress

August 6, 1863

Transcription by the Lincoln Studies Center, Knox College. Galesburg, Illinois.

Public Domain

Lancaster O' Aug. 6th 1863

Sir,

We have it confidently stated in the papers as from official Sources that; You have given England notice if she permits the two iron clads now fitting out in her ports to be delivered to the Confederate officers you will consider it a declaration of war1 — and so enormous has been the provocation that I fear the imprudence has been, or will be committed— It is no doubt clearly right & just to look upon those ships as English ships, built & manned & armed in British ports to pirate upon our commerce — not one in five of them ever sees a Confederate port— I would bear it in mind & make the retribution in due time terrible — but we are in no condition now— To declare war now would be to deliver over to her Navy two or three hundred millions in ships & goods & in effect sweep our commerce from the Ocean— We would recover ourselves & be ready to return the blow with interest — but we should be ready before we call on her to strike— The best way to check her piracy is to make vigorous preparations to avenge it— Remonstrate — but threaten nothing on paper — our threats should come from our Navy Yards & Arsenals— They will then be regarded— But England would now be delighted with the opportunity of pouncing down upon us unprepared— I trust in God we will one day be able to pay her up old scores & new & that the day of retribution is not distant — but I see nothing but mischief from assuming an absolute hostile position now—

I am very truly

Yours
T. Ewing

Letter