From Asa Gray   15 and 17 May 1865

Cambridge, Mass.

May 15, 1865—

My Dear Darwin

Your kind letter of the 19th ult. crossed a brief note from me.1 I am too much distracted with work at this season to write letters on our affairs, and if I once begin, I should not know where to stop. You have always been sympathising and just, and I appreciate your hearty congratulations on the success of our just endeavors.2 You have since had much more to rejoice over, as well as to sorrow with us. But the noble manner in which our country has borne itself should give you real satisfaction. We appreciate too the good feeling of England in its hearty grief at the murder of Lincoln.3

Don’t talk about our “hating” you,—nor suppose that we want to rob you of Canada—for which nobody cares.4

We think we have been ill-used by you, when you thought us weak and broken.— & when we expected better things.5 We have learned that we must be strong to live in peace & comfort with England,—otherwise we should have to eat much dirt. But now that we are on our feet again, all will go well, and hatred will disappear. Indeed, I see little of that. We do not even hate the Rebels, and may not even execute so much of justice as to convict of treason & hang their President, whom we have just caught,—but I hope we shall,—hang the leader & spare the subordinates.6 We are now feeding the south, who starved our men taken prisoners.7

Slavery is thoroughly dead. We have a deal to do, but shall do it, I trust, and deserve your continued approbation. We have a load to carry—heavy, no doubt, but a young & re-invigorated country, with a future before it can do and bear, & prosper under what might stagger a full-grown, mature country of the Old world

I must look to the Plantago dimorphism: for, as you say, these plants, fertilised by wind, could gain nothing by being dimorphic. No dimorphic species grows very near here,—nor can I now get seeds of P. Virginica.8 Perhaps a good look at even dried specimens, under your hints, may settle the matter.

I was exceedingly interested with the Lythrum paper (but had no time to write a notice of it.),9 & I wait expectingly for your Climbing plants.10 You are the very prince of investigators.

We hope presently to make Mrs. Wedgwood’s acquaintance.11

In great haste, dear Darwin, | Your affectionate | A. Gray

My wife’s cousin, Brace is in England, & hoping to see you.12 I told him he must not take up your time, nor worry you with questions and talk. He is a good soul, but you will get nothing Scientific out of him. Social matters are in his way13

A.G.

P.S. 17th. May | I missed the post. I have since had the pleasure to meet Mrs. Wedgwood, and to talk with her of You and Yours. A. G.

Thanks for the Times.—apparently from you.14

1
See letter to Asa Gray, 19 April [1865]. Gray’s letter has not been found.
2
See letter to Asa Gray, 19 April [1865]. With the fall of Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederacy, on 2 and 3 April, and the surrender of Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia on 9 April 1865, the American Civil War effectively came to an end (see McPherson 1988, pp. 844–52, and Denney 1992, pp. 553–4, 557).
3
Abraham Lincoln was shot on 14 April 1865 and died of his wounds the following day (DAB, Denney 1992, p. 559). News of his death reached London on 26 April, and on 27 April The Times carried the official report of the murder and details of the shocked reaction from around the country; it also recorded that the House of Commons had signed an address of sympathy to the resident American minister (The Times, 27 April 1865, p. 7). An editorial said that the news would arouse sincere and profound sorrow throughout Europe (ibid., p. 7).
4
See letter to Asa Gray, 19 April [1865] and n. 6. The United States and Britain had been involved in several disputes concerning Canada’s borders with the United States (see Correspondence vol. 11, letter to Asa Gray, 23 February [1863] and n. 19). On relations between Britain and the United States in respect of Canada after the end of the American Civil War, see Jenkins 1974–80, 2: 381–92; on the movement for the annexation of Canada by the United States, see Warner 1960, pp. 46–59.
5
On the relations between Britain and the United States during the American Civil War, see Jenkins 1974–80. Gray may be referring in particular to relations between the two countries in 1861, after Britain’s declaration of neutrality in May, which opened the way for the Confederacy to contract loans and purchase war materials (see Correspondence vol. 9, letter from Asa Gray, 31 December 1861, n. 12). Other incidents included the Trent affair in September 1861, and the Alabama affair in 1862 and 1863 (see Correspondence vol. 9, letter to Asa Gray, 11 December [1861], n. 3, and Correspondence vol. 11, letter from Asa Gray, 23 November 1863 and nn. 8 and 9). The Union Army suffered a major defeat at the first battle of Bull Run (Manassas) in July 1861 (see McPherson 1988, pp. 342–6).
6
Jefferson Davis was president of the Confederate states during the American Civil War. Following the war, he was captured and held as a military prisoner for two years, then transferred to civilian custody after it was determined that he would be charged not in connection with the assassination of Lincoln but with treason. He was released on bail from civilian prison within a few days, on 13 May 1867, and on 5 December 1868 the indictment against him was dismissed. A universal amnesty was issued at Christmas 1868, but Davis declined ever to apply for a full pardon (see Davis 1991, pp. 651–63).
8
In his letter to Gray of 19 April [1865], CD had asked for dimorphic species of Plantago.
9
‘Three forms of Lythrum salicaria’ was read before the Linnean Society on 16 June 1864 and copies of the paper were issued to members of the society on 12 December 1864 (General index to the Journal of the Linnean Society). Gray’s name appears on the presentation list for the paper (see Correspondence vol. 12, Appendix III). For CD’s earlier discussions with Gray on Lythrum, see Correspondence vols. 10–12. Gray reviewed ‘Three forms of Lythrum salicaria’ in the May 1865 issue of the American Journal of Science and Arts, pp. 360–1, referring to CD as a ‘prince of biological inquirers’.
10
An abstract of ‘Climbing plants’ was read at a meeting of the Linnean Society on 2 February 1865, and CD had begun distributing offprints of the paper by June 1865 (see letter to Asa Gray, 19 April [1865] and n. 16). Gray reviewed ‘Climbing plants’ in two issues of the American Journal of Science and Arts (A. Gray 1865–6). In the first part of his review, p. 273, Gray remarked that CD’s papers on dimorphic and trimorphic plants, and his work on Orchids and ‘Climbing plants’, showed ‘a genius for biological investigation’.
11
The reference is to Frances Wedgwood, wife of Francis Wedgwood, owner of the Wedgwood potteries; she made a number of visits to the United States following her first visit in 1859 (see B. Wedgwood and Wedgwood 1980, pp. 267–9, 291, 296).
12
The reference is to Charles Loring Brace. In fact, Brace was a nephew of Gray’s wife, Jane Loring Gray (Dupree 1959, p. 192). Brace did not visit CD (see letter from Asa Gray, 24 July 1865).
13
Brace was a philanthropist who worked with the underprivileged children of New York City (Dupree 1959, p. 361). He sent CD a copy of his book, The races of the old world. A manual of ethnology in 1863 (Brace 1863; see Correspondence vol. 11, letter to C. L. Brace, 24 June [1863] and n. 2).
14
This may have been the issue of 27 April 1865. See n. 3, above.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-4833,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-4833