4396. EBB to Isa Blagden
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 26, 134–137.
43 Bocca di Leone
Monday May 2. [1859] [1]
My dearest Isa, To begin with Una, lest you should not have heard from Mrs Hawthorne who was thankful for your note. Una is out of all danger, & recovering strength daily—it is thought that in about a fortnight, they will be able to remove her, by Marseilles, into Switzerland– So happy they all seem. They had given her up, & it is as if they received her back fresh from the hand of God. [2]
War, Isa.! Austria’s last stroke [3] signalizes the justice of Cavour’s view of their designs from first to last. I am sorry that Mr Trollope should distrust the Emperor Napoleon. Never has a great man, a man on a large pattern, been more imperfectly apprehended—which is saying much, for it is of the destiny of great men that they should be imperfectly apprehended. But it seems impossible to the English mind to understand political action apart from material aims– I dare say Mr Trollope has been talked over in England,—besides certain tendencies of his own mind– The Sardinian patriots & statesmen however, .. those who have stood nearest to Napoleon .. feel no fears. Massimo d’Azeglio smiled with contempt at this class of ideas, observing that L N’s objects were far higher than anything connected with territorial aggrandizement. The legitimate influence of a leader of civilization & an achiever of right .. that was the Emperor’s ambition—Some Englishman asked him .. “What, if as recompence of the deliverance of Italy, France asked for Savoy?” “I should be sorry,” he replied—“but if the price were necessary (which it is not) I for one should be prepared to pay it.” “But” said he, “the policy of England, implying these fears, is based on the vulgarest anti-Gallican prejudices & jealousies .. and is in itself una cosa ridicola.” [4] Mr Trollope’s pamphlet [5] is so excellent, so clear of the traditions, that I quite wonder at the writer having an arriere pensée, [6] in a suspicion of the Emperor. This brave deed of his (which is to cost him his crown say his enemies) deserves of us all, I think, that we should not wrong him by such a thought till facts come to justify it. You know I always considered him an incarnation of the Democracy, & looked to this course as a logical inference from the man’s nature & position– He has taken part always with the nationalities, & will & must by the necessities of his being & reigning. To prove to you what he has had to bear here for years .. even now, in this crisis, because at the Benediction in the grand piazza the other day there were cries of Viva l’Italia Viva la Francia, Viva l’Imperatore dei Francesi to which the French ambassador responded by standing up in his carriage & taking off his hat—the government, at the application of the Austrian ambassador, arrested numbers of persons & threw them into prison—& some of the highest Roman nobles were implicated. [7] Conceive of that insolence. True, that the French minister, when he heard of it, was incensed, & insisted on their release, or that he would apply to Paris for instructions by telegraph. But arrests on like grounds have nevertheless continued, we hear .. & Napoleon’s representative has entreated the people (vi prego dalla parte dell’imperatore [8] ) not to involve themselves in trouble by expressions of sympathy with France. This while Roman troops [9] hold Rome, & land at Genoa!! Think what it has been to bear the responsibility of the bad actions of this Roman government all these years– To get Reforms out of it, was like trying to cut ham sandwiches out of a featherbed– Austria sustaining the passive resistance! And no way of escape from the situation but this very war with Austria .. which even I who hate war from the bottom of my woman’s heart, from that same heart can thank God for!
We are quite quiet—but there is disaffection among the Italian troops who refused the other day at the request of the French general [10] to give any ‘viva’ for the ‘Santo padre’. A dead silence was the reply. And people are a good deal alarmed at the consequence of the approaching withdrawal of numbers of the French. Only about three thousand are to remain. Count Cini, [11] (who, a former liberal, rallied “from pecuniary motives” to the government) called on the Storys the other day, & said .. “Take leave of me—I expect to be murdered”. But there is great quiet, though the excitement & sympathy with Piedmont is profound here–
I wish you would tell me of Florence– With such men at the head of the government, things must go well, I hope– [12]
But the anxiety is painful– My heart gets regular palpitations over the newspapers– May God help us all–
As to a Congress .. why Mr Trollope must see that no congress with England in it would ever have touched the real question.
Now to breathe away from politics– Thank you, dear dearest Isa, for your spiritual news– All very interesting– I shd like to sleep in that room–
I have your letters—Thank you, .. dear! How good you are, my dearest Isa!– My heart overflows with joy for Florence. May God be praised. I envy Theodosia Trollope the honor of touching that tricolor– I envy you all, a little. I feel as if my life were wronged by what I have missed– Never mind– It is not the moment for feeling for oneself–
I am writing against time, what you will scarcely read, dear. Robert ran off with your letter to the paper, [13] to read all to Odo Russell, who was grateful .. & to the correspondent of the Times newspaper, [14] who sends me word that he wont yield to me in love for our Italy– Write to me, dear dear Isa– People have come & are here & I must end abruptly–
Your ever most loving Ba
Peni is in ecstasies, & bids me tell you that he means to put up two tricolors (French & Italian) at each end of his terrace. It is said that the pope’s dragoons are gone without leave this morning to Piedmont—& that the French therefore remain in their present number–
Publication: B-IB, pp. 211–213.
Manuscript: Fitzwilliam Museum.
1. Year provided by EBB’s reference to the incident at the Pope’s benediction (see letter 4390, note 5).
2. The Hawthornes left Rome on 25 May 1859, sailing that same day for Marseilles from Civitavecchia (see Hawthorne, 14, 669). They travelled to Switzerland in June after visiting Avignon (see pp. 671–673).
4. “A ridiculous thing.”
6. “Afterthought.”
8. “I beseech you in behalf of the Emperor.”
9. i.e., French troops.
10. Presumably, Charles Marie Auguste de Goyon (1803–70), commander of the French garrison in Rome, who was pro-papal and anti-Sardinian.
11. Count Filippo Cini (1805–73) was at this time a controller in the papal government (see Annuario Pontificio, Rome, 1860, p. 437).
13. Untraced.
14. Henry Wreford; see letter 4368, note 2.
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