Letter from Alexander Collie to Secretary of War James A. Seddon; December 7, 1863

17 Leadenhall Street London 7^th Dec^r 1863.

The Hon^l J. A. Seddon Richmond

Dear Sir

The season is now at hand when destitution & distress, even in the ordinary course of events, would be felt in your country—much more so must this be the case now, from the terrible war which has been so long raging. To relieve this distress, as far as is in our power, is the duty of all who have the means to do so: & it is doubly the duty of those who have de-rived pecuniary benefit from the very causes which have pro-duced on the misery.—Feeling this responsibility, & knowing nothing, myself, of the means at work in your country for ac-complishing the end in view, I would ask your Kind assis-tance in the matter. Enclosed is an order on Mr Andrew of Wilmington for thirty thousand dollars; and I will feel very much obliged if you will cause this amount to be dis-tributed in any way you may think best. My wish is, to to aid the needy & the suffering in your land; & more particu-larly those who have been made so through the present war: and if thro' your kindness I can send a ray of comfort into a dwelling where comfort is a stranger, or light upon a hearth which would otherwise be cold & cheerless my pre-sent aim will be fully accomplished.

I send this letter to you in charge of Mr John White who has been here for sometime as special commissioner for North Carolina. He Knows well what is going on here in business matters, & will no doubt be able to give you any in-formation you may desire.

The letter from the War Department (Ordnance Of-fice) Richmond 15^th October only reached me about a week ago: and I shall not fail to communicate with Genl M^cRae as requested. I am quite sure that all this business could be put on a much better footing than it has hitherto been; and in the course of two or three weeks I hope to be in a position to advise you farther on the subject

Meantime Very faithfully yours

(Signed) Alex^d Collie.