Description:

Remarkable archive of personal letters from Lord Dufferin, Canada's Governor General, with excellent Canada and Mormon content!

MARQUESS OF DUFFERIN (1826-1902) Archive of twelve Autograph Letters Signed "Dufferin," eight as Governor General of Canada, total of 68 pages, mostly 5" x 8". Various places, 1862-1878. Minor flaws, folds, mounting remnants, and soiling at some edges. Mostly to Baring Bros. banker Russell Sturgis. Very Good to Fine condition.

Excerpts

(1) Clandeboye, Belfast,[Ireland], 1 page, February 11, 1862. To Mr. [Russell] Sturgis. "You have always shown me so much kindness that I am sure you will not think it strange I should … you with the announcement of my marriage to your … friend Miss Hamilton. We will be married about the end of next month…" Soiled. Dufferin and Hariot Georgina Rowan-Hamilton were married on October23, 1862.

(2) Grosvenor Square, [London], 2 pages, February 23, 1871. To Miss May. "I cannot say how very sensible I am of the favour shown me by your invitation to enter that charmed circle of young men and maidens, which is to be gathered under your auspices on the 28th, - but I am very sorry to say, that on that very day I am inexorably bound to dine with a forbidding group of gray old men, whose firm visages and sad conversation will prove a gruesome contrast to the joyousness and the jeunesse…"

(3) Clandeboye, Belfast, [Ireland], 2 pages, April 5, 1871. To Miss May. "I need not say how very sensible I am of your extreme kindness in writing to me about your marriage. I had not heard a word of it, but how should any one who passes his whole time with musty old Admirals learn of the doings of such bright creatures as you…"

(4) Clandeboye, Ireland, 4 pages, April 4, 1872. To Mrs. [Russell] Sturgis. "I am going to Canada, probably in the middle of June. I hope to be back in London in the beginning of the week after next, and I will come and see you the very first thing. Of course it is a great plunge and brings with it many deep regrets, but I have always had a great desire to breathe the atmosphere of the New World a little, and in these times the post is sufficiently important and I am rather tired of the dull routine of London official Life…" On June 25, 1872, Dufferin became the 3rd Governor General of Canada.

(5) Rideau Hall, Ottawa, [Canada], 12 pages, November 11, 1872. Marked "Private" To Mrs. [Russell] Sturgis, as Governor General of Canada. "We are now settled at Ottawa my official head quarters Ottawa is the metropolis of Canada, and in its neighbourhood is our residence, the only residence in the Dominion provided for the Governor General. Ottawa itself is a desolate place, consisting of a jumble of brand new houses and shops built or building, and a higgelty piggekty wilderness of wooden shantys spread along either side of long, broad strips of mud, intersecting each other at right angles which are to firm the future streets of Canada's Capital…"

(6) Government House, Ottawa stationery, 11 pages, November 27, 1873. To [Russell] Sturgis, as Governor General of Canada. "My Canadians are very impulsive and certainly the language of their Press is more characterized by vigour than refinement of tone … I was quite determined not to allow the opposition to take an unfair advantage of [Prime Minister John A.] Macdonald. I have a great regard for him, and he must certainly be regarded as the man who has created this nation. Moreover in many respects he has been being ill used by this political opponents. They have accused him of personal corruption…"

(7) Government House, Ottawa stationery, 4 pages, November 27, 1873. To Mrs. [Russell] Sturgis, as Governor General of Canada. "I cannot close my letter to your Husband without writing a line to tell you a little of our domestic news, though indeed the annals of our house in Canada are not very varied. Lady Dufferin presented me with a little Canadian last Spring, to whom The Queen has stood Godmother, but we consider the young lady still too tiny to bear the weight of the portentous appelestion [sic] she has thus acquired, and she is known to her intimates by the name of May of which I am sure you will approve…" Her full name: Lady Victoria Alexandrina Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood.

(8) Government House, Ottawa stationery, 6 pages, May 9, 1874. To Mrs. [Russell] Sturgis, as Governor General of Canada. "My Parliament is now assembled, and during the last six weeks as have been very busy. We have imposed three million dollars additional duties, and increased the taxation of the Country by one sixth, so no one can accuse us of idleness. We are going to cut a passage for thousand-ton ships from the head of Lake Superior to the ocean and to turn the whole of Nova Scotia into an island by running a canal from the Gulf of St. Lawrence into the Bay of Fundy! What do you say to that! In addition to these undertakings we have also got to make a highway from the Atlantic to the Pacific…"

(9) Clandeboye, Ireland, 3 pages, September 2, 1875. To Mrs. [Russell] Sturgis, as Governor General of Canada. "I was dreadfully disappointed to find that after all I was destined to miss you, I had so counted upon a quiet day or two with you in the Highlands to make up for my disappointment in having seen so little of you in London … It is hard to feel that I have so soon to turn my face westward for another three years of exile, but you must write to me sometimes, and let me know of your welfare…"

(10) Clandeboye [Ireland], 3 pages, October 4, 1875. Marked "Private" To Mrs. [Russell] Sturgis, as Governor General of Canada. "…on Thursday we sail to remain alas! Separated from all my dear friends for another horrible three years. It is quite a sad prospect, and I go with a heavy heart, but there is no help for it, as I never give up a King to which I once put my hand until the task is completed. Write to me occasionally and I will always send you some kind of reply even though it be a mere reflection of our dull Canadian existence…"

"…nothing will induce us to show any attention to that vulgar impostor Brigham Young…"

(11) Ogden,[Utah], U.S., 14 pages, August 8, 1876. To Mrs. [Russell] Sturgis, as Governor General of Canada. "I had intended to have written to you before leaving Ottawa on the journey on which we are now embarked … I take advantage therefore of a day's rest in a flourishing little Mormon town called Ogden, very near Salt Lake City, to fulfil my intention … The day before we came to Cheyenne, the mail stage had been robbed and some of its inmates murdered. Incidents had been reported along the line. The conductor of a train which met us had been scalped and now wore a bladder in lieu of the natural covering his skull once possessed … Although we are so near to Salt Lake City, we intend passing it by, in order to reach British Columbia with as little delay as possible. On our return I daresay we shall look in upon it though nothing will induce us to show any attention to that vulgar impostor Brigham Young. A quondam tenant of mine is I believe one of the Apostles in the fraternity. He returned to Ireland some years ago, and in consideration of a kindness I once did him, tried to convert me one morning as I was standing at my own Hall door but Lady Dufferin, as the angle once pulled Lot into the house, thrust out her hand and withdrew me from his clutches … Whenever we go to Salt Lake City I intend to go to the Theatre in order to give Mr. Sturgis an account of the performance of the Mormon actresses…"

(12) Government House, Ottawa stationery, 6 pages, May 30, 1878. To Mrs. [Russell] Sturgis, as Governor General of Canada. "We are now in the hurry scurry of packing up our goods and chattels, as we leave Government House for good in a week … The other day I held a great review of Canadian troops at Montreal - the most important military spectacle that has been exhibited for years in the Dominion. A company of United States Militia joined in the show, fell into line with our own regiments, and took part in the feu de joie, and other maneuvres of the day. Was it not nice of them? Nothing could be more courteous than the conduct of the American Government towards Canada has been ever since I have been here…" Dufferin officially served as Governor General of Canada until November 25, 1878.

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