May sympathizes with Webb's disinclination to write letters. He discusses a lecture by Professor John Elliott Cairnes. May acknowledges that there is a division between the wealthy commercial classes in England and other countries. He tells Webb of his resentment for England's aid to the South, particularly in respect to blockade runners and and privateers. May says that he thinks Cairnes underrates the ability of the slaves. He asserts that a separate confederacy would be undesirable. May gives the results of the Massachusetts elections and mentions the removal of General George Brinton McClellan. In a continuation of the letter that is dated November 21, May says that the United States as a whole does not hate England but that England does hate the United States. He denies that the visiting Southerners made England favor slavery and describes the family of Robert Gould Shaw of Boston.