Davis Jefferson

3pp AL inscribed overall by former President of the Confederate States of America Jefferson Davis (1808-1889), with Davis’s signature clip adhered to third page. On cream colored stationery paper, the first page with red “S de W” crowned masthead, each page measuring 5.125" x 8". In good to very good condition, with overall toning, minor edge wear, expected paper folds, and limited ink bleed through. A few tears along folds.

 

Jefferson Davis wrote to an unknown friend on May 6, 1874 from his residence at “1 Belvedere Road, Prince’s Park, Liverpool”.

 

Please see below for the complete text:

 

“My dearest friend,

 

Your last letter received in London promised to write next to this place and I am daily hoping to hear from you.

 

After many interviews and much conversation with business men in London, I saw no prospect of early action on the matters in which I was interested and therefore left for this port. Since my arrival letters have followed me which express disappointment at my departure, and I have replied that if my presence was needfast to complete or materially to promote any important business arrangement that I would return to London.

 

It is therefore possible that my departure for America may be delayed though unless there are stronger indications of ‘seriousness’ than when I was in London my comfort and my pride will say go not back.

 

Jon. Lubbock and I propose to go to Glasgow tomorrow for a Sunday and on my return to this place there will probably be enough information to enable me to decide whether to remain longer or not.

Please remember me to Mdmlles. Marie and Jaime and tell Marie Jon. Lubbock has never found a mackerel equal to hers.

 

I have written fully to Maj. Weaton in answer to his two letters. Have answered to very kind letter of Miss Lee. After I see the ship men in Glasgow, will write to Dr. Buckler about the Hirsch model. So far the indications are not encouraging for its adoption.

 

I wish it had been my good fortune to have been with you at Mont Po that we might have enjoyed the scenery and the nightingales and had a whole day to ourselves.

 

With longing desire to be with you and hoping for our speedy reunion, I am most truly yours,

 

Jefferson Davis”

 

Davis wrote that his return to the United States might be delayed. Indeed, Davis would not return until thirteen months later, in June 1875, after a futile search for employment. The Royal Insurance Company’s British owners were reluctant to hire Davis, a disgraced rebel, as their American representative, yet Davis had several pokers in the fire. He mentions traveling to Glasgow to see the “Hirsch model” in person. German inventor Hermann Hirsch had patented a revolutionary screw propeller in 1860 and continued to make improvements throughout the late 1870s. “From 1870 to 1875 the shipping world was from time to time excited by the reports circulated of the wonderful improvements made in speed and coal consumption, especially the former, of ships that had been fitted with the Hirsch screw in place of one of the ordinary type”, one 1909 history by Albert Edward Seaton reported. Davis’s comments reveal his business interest in shipbuilding technology.

 

The former President of the Confederacy traveled to England five times between August 1868 and August 1881, seeking more stable employment. Davis’s desire to immigrate was understandable. First, Davis would not be officially cleared of treason charges until as late as 1869, and didn’t feel welcome in the recently reunified United States. He was barred from holding political office, and his familial home Brierfield was tied up in legal disputes, so he had no income. Davis wanted work in either cotton manufacturing, insurance, or shipping, and Liverpool, England was a hub for all three.

 

The Confederate States of America had maintained trade relations with England during the Civil War, slipping past Union blockades to deliver its cotton to English factories. Confederate lobbyists congregated in Liverpool in the area around Abercromby Square, which quickly garnered a reputation as the Confederate capital abroad. Thus, it was a natural choice that Davis returned to a place which had both supported the Confederacy and promised future employment opportunities.

 

Jefferson Davis had been an ideal candidate for President of the Confederacy, as he had both military and political experience. He served in the U.S. Army during the Mexican and the Black Hawk Wars. The Democrat was a congressman and senator from Mississippi as well as the 23rd Secretary of the War under the Pierce administration. Ideologically, Davis supported both a slave-based economy and state’s rights to withdraw from the Union.

 

An incredible letter relating to 1870s British shipping, inscribed and signed by deposed Confederate President Jefferson Davis!

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