ABSTRACT
The Thomas Hill letters take on new interest during the Civil War. Now in poor health, Hill nonetheless is still travelling widely for the American Tract Society, and is suffering the loss of ‘my dear boy’. The 1863 letter was written from Bowmanville, Ontario, where two of his four sons have joined him. Another son has been drafted into the Union Army even though he is sick, and Hill fears that his other son will be drafted too. The letters refer to the extensive sympathy in England for the Union, as discussed in the introduction to this volume. Finally, there is the fascinating conviction that Britain should have recognized the South at the outbreak of the conflict, but that it is now too late because Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation has made the war about slavery – not just the Union – and Britain could not possibly support a conflict that might preserve slavery. This was exactly what Lincoln had in mind, and even Thomas Hill picked up on this in his letters. This theme can be developed through the use of other documents in this volume. Other perceptive observations in this letter include the fear that the United States might devour Canada to compensate for losing the South, and that Lincoln was in effect a despot. The reference to Lyman Beecher is also worth noting. Finally, in his letter of 1872, printed later in this volume, Hill admits that, after 26 years, ‘I often think of my Native Land & the dear friends of my youth that I leftbehind. I have not heard anything from England for 18 months.’
