2980. EBB to Anna Brownell Jameson
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 17, 185–187.
138 Avenue des Ch. Elysées.
Decr 10—11– [1851] [1]
I receive your letter dearest friend, & hasten to write a few brief words to save the post.
We have suffered neither fear nor danger—& I would not have missed the grand spectacle of the second of December for anything in the world .. scarcely, I say, for the sight of the Alps.
On the only day in which there was much fighting (Thursday) Wiedeman was taken out to walk as usual, under the precaution of keeping in the immediate neighbourhood of this house. This will prove to you how little we have feared for ourselves.
But the natural emotion of the situation, one could not escape from, & on Thursday night I sate up in my dressing gown, till nearly one, listening to the distant firing from the boulevards. Thursday was the only day in which there was fighting of any serious kind. There has been no resistance on the part of the real people—nothing but sympathy for the president, I believe, if you except the natural mortification & disappointment of baffled parties. To judge from our own tradespeople .. “il a bien fait! c’est le vrai neveu de son oncle”! [2] —such phrases, rung on every tone, expressed the prevailing sentiment.
For my own part I have not only more hope in the situation but more faith in the French people than is ordinary among the English, who really try to exceed one another in discoloration & distortion of the circumstances. The government was in a dead lock—what was to be done? Yes, all parties cried out, “What was to be done,” & felt that we were waist deep a fortnight ago in a state of crisis. In throwing back the sovereignty from a ‘representative assembly’ which had virtually ceased to represent, into the hands of the people, I think that Louis Napoleon did well. The talk about ‘military despotism’ is absolute nonsense– [3] The french army is eminently civic, & nations who take their ideas from the very opposite fact of a standing army, are far from understanding how absolutely a french soldier & french citizen are the same thing. The independence of the elections [4] seems to be put out of reach of injury—and intelligent men of adverse opinions to the government, think that the majority will be large in its favour– Such a majority would certainly justify Louis Napoleon—or should … even with you, in England–
I think you quite understate the amount of public virtue in France. The difficulties of statesmanship here are enormous. I do not accuse even M. Thiers of want of public virtue. What he has wanted, has been length & breadth of view—purely an intellectual defect—and his petty, puny tracasseries, [5] destroyed the Republican assembly, just as it destroyed the throne of Louis Phillipe, in spite of his own intentions.
There is a conflict of ideas in France, which we have no notion of in England, but we ought to understand that it does not involve a failing of principle, in the elemental moral sense. Be just to France, dear friend .. you who are more than an Englishwoman .. a Mrs Jameson!.
Everything is perfectly tranquil in Paris, I assure you—theatres full, & galleries open as usual. At the same time, timid & discouraged persons say, “Wait till after the elections,” .. and of course the public emotion will be a good deal excited at that time. Therefore, judge for yourself. For my own part I have not had the slightest cause for alarm of any kind—and there is my child!—judge.
But I am sorry to say that the apartment in this house is no longer disengaged, .. the apartment of which I spoke to you. Robert will gladly look out for rooms for you, if you will specify the quarter, the number of rooms, & the price you desire, together with the nature of the accom[m]odation as to food & attendance, & the time you would have all engaged for. How delighted I shall be to see you & hear you again!
The weather is exquisite, and I am going out to walk directly. It is scarcely possible to bear a fire .. and some of our friends sit with the windows open. We are all well.
This should have gone to you yesterday, but we had visitors who talked past post time. The delay however has allowed of my writing more than I meant to have done in beginning this letter. Robert’s best love–
Your ever affectionate Ba–
Robert says that according to the impression of the wisest, there can be no danger. Dont wait till after the elections– The time is most interesting & it is well worth your while to come & see for yourself–
Publication: LEBB, II, 32–34 (in part).
Manuscript: Wellesley College.
1. Year provided by EBB’s reference to the coup d’état of 2 December 1851.
2. “He has done well! he is the true nephew of his uncle.”
3. The lead article in The Examiner of 6 December 1851 warned its readers of the consequences for England of a “military despotism” in France: “Whatever may be said against the faults of the overthrown republic, it cannot be denied that the short period of its existence was one of a degree of amity between the two nations before unknown. The establishment of a military despotism would banish this new concord, for the sword of France turns its point to England as naturally as the needle to the pole.” This article was reprinted in The Times of 8 December 1851, p. 8.
4. i.e., the plebiscite to be held on 20 December 1851.
5. “Interferences.”
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