[Osborne Gordon, influential tutor at Christ Church, Oxford.] Autograph Letter Signed discussing a letter by Lord Brougham concerning the likelihood of war, Louis Napoleon of France, Goldwin Smith and the British colonies.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB, with those of Brougham and Goldwin Smith. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, with thin strip from windowpane mount adhering to the blank reverse of the second leaf. Signed ‘O Gordon’ and addressed to ‘Dear Mr Da [Qeue?]’. An interesting letter, full of content. He begins by thanking him for ‘Ld Broughams letter which I have disposed of as directed’. He had ‘some difficulty in making it out’, but is ‘glad to infer from it that there will be no war just now’, although he is afraid ‘there must be a feeling of humiliation which will be permanent in France when there is a permanent foreign minister (L[ouis]. N[apoleon]. himself) that will find some unpleasant expression hereafter’. He can ‘hardly make out’ what Brougham ‘says of Goldwin Smith’, but he gathers that he does not agree with him, ‘that as a matter of principle and policy we ought to get rid of all our colonies at once. / As to letting them go peacably [sic] & with mutual good will, when they are of age, that is quite another thing.’