[Sir George Cornewall Lewis, Liberal Minister of War who kept Britain out of the American Civil War.] Autograph Letter Signed to Peter Jackson of the Caxton Press, about a petition opposing ‘the opening of the General Post Office on the Lord’s Day'.

Lewis’s entry in the Oxford DNB describes how, as Minister of War in 1861, successfully led the British cabinet to reject Lord John Russell and Gladstone’s calls for Britain to intervene on behalf of the Confederacy in the American Civil War. 1p, foolscap 8vo. Folded twice. In fair condition, on lightly aged laid paper, with slight chipping at the head. With J. Green & Son 1848 Britannica watermark. Signed ‘G. Cornewall Lewis’, and addressed to ‘Mr. Peter Jackson / The Caxton Press / Angel Street / St. Martin’s-le-Grand’. Begins: ‘Sir, / I am directed by Secretary Sir George Grey to acknowledge the weight of your Letter of the 9th instant, and to inform you that he has not failed to lay before The Queen the Petition of the Members of the Congregation assembling the Divine Worship in Barbican Chapel in the City of London’. The petition opposes ‘the opening of the General Post Office on the Lord’s Day’.