Letter from William Henry Seward to Frederick William Seward, March 10, 1871

  • Posted on: 9 May 2018
  • By: admin
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Letter from William Henry Seward to Frederick William Seward, March 10, 1871
x

transcriber

Transcriber:spp:crb

student editor

Transcriber:spp:dxt

Distributor:Seward Family Digital Archive

Institution:University of Rochester

Repository:Rare Books and Special Collections

Date:1871-03-10

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Letter from William Henry Seward to Frederick William Seward, March 10, 1871

action: sent

sender: William Seward
Birth: 1801-05-16  Death: 1872-10-10

location: Kolkata, India

receiver: Frederick Seward
Birth: 1830-07-08  Death: 1915-04-25

location: Unknown
Unknown

transcription: crb 

revision: crb 2018-03-26

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Page 1

x

Editorial Note

This letter was written by Olive Risley Seward for William Henry Seward.
Government House
Calcutta March 10 1871
My dear Frederick
We spent two very delight-
ful weeks at Madras
x

with
my old friends the Napiers
x Birth: 1823-12-20  Death: 1911-08-24  Birth: 1819-09-19  Death: 1898-12-19 

and arrived here on the 1st inst
after a very comfortable and
pleasant voyage
Mr McAllister
Unknown
a prominent
American merchant and his
wife
Unknown
entertained us at their
house a few days in a most
hospitable manner and brought
all our countrymen to Cal-
cutta to see us. We then
accepted the polite invitation
of the Vice Roy
Birth: 1822-02-21 Death: 1872-02-08
to become his
guests at the Government
House where everything is
Page 2

conducted with very great
kindness though with regal
ceremony. Tomorrow we go
with the viceroy and Lady
Mayo
Birth: 1826
to spend two days at
Barrackpore their magnificent
country seat 16 miles from the
city On Monday evening we
leave the capital of British
India and proceed by the
nights train to visit the great
cities of the ancient Mahomedan
dynasty.
We shall thus look in
upon Benais Lucknow Agra
and Delhi, if the weather
shall not threaten to be too
severe we propose to climb
the base of the Himalaya
mountains and rest a few
days at at Simla. The entire
journey will be accomplished
by rail, from the latter
place we retrace of road
as far as Allahabad and
Page 3

proceed thence by rail to
Bombay
x

. These journeys in
the whole will cover a dis-
tance as nearly as I can
now estimate it, of nearly
3000 miles, about the eight
of our journey across the Rocky
mountains from Auburn to
San Francisco.
We allow ourselves about
a month for the journey. If
we make it make with
success we shall then be as
well informed about India
as we are now about China.
We reserve the question of
attempting the Persian Gulf
and Bagdad until we reach
Bombay. The British Admiral
Birth: 1817 Death: 1872-02-10

offers us a voyage there on
his flag ship.
Mr. Mae Virgle
Unknown
renews the
assurance that a firmand from
the Sultan
Birth: 1830-02-08 Death: 1876-06-04
awaits us at Cairo
providing for our journey to
Page 4

Constantinople. My condition
is this. I eat, drink, sleep and
as poor William Freeman
Birth: 1824 Death: 1847-08-21
says
"I handle my hands" about as
well as when I left home
I think I suffer less than
I did from the wounds in
my face and head and
of vertigo, although it some-
times alarms me. I am
satisfied on the the whole
that all I occasionally have
comes from indigestion.
We are seeing India more
fully and searchingly in
regard to its Government and
its political and mineral
condition than has happened
I think to any of our coun-
try men. I regret that the
occupations of travel and
society which are very
oppressive upon me oblige
me to withhold information
from you and the other
Page 5

children about all these things.
All letters have fallen
behind us of date later
than November 18th.
The English in India are
very English very like the
Canadians jealousy of the
United States runs even to
the height of dreading an
alliance between us and
Russia, independant and
liberal persons are found
here however as in Madras.
Affectionately
William H. Seward
by Olive
x

Editorial Note

The text below is a separate letter from Cornelia Richardson to William Henry Seward, Jr., April 28, 1871.