4402. EBB to Isa Blagden
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 26, 143–146.
43. Bocca di Leone
Monday. [9 May 1859]. [1]
My ever dearest Isa I have your letter & a half, & thank you infinitely– How good you are to tell me all the news, for which I hunger & thirst– It is not an exaggeration when I tell you that I have real & physical palpitations of the heart over the newspapers– They seem to touch the seat of life in me.
As to Tuscany, we have only to thank God for the whole movement, which must have been magnificent– For the rest, there will always be a residue, .. dregs .. everywhere .. people who fall out of material advantages by a concussion & therefore regret it, being themselves vile. Now the anxiety is, about the military successors .. though my own fears are slight. Such a cause, .. the soul of the Italian people and the arms of France, .. must together be too strong for Austria.
The outcry on the part of the Times newspaper &c about the supposed Gallic-Russian alliance (if it were true) is a curious illustration of the logic & conscience with which these writers have regarded the whole Italian question– [2] Only two or three days before the Times announced that alliance, it declared that England, Prussia, & confederated Germany were in a position of quasi hostility to France, which would turn into active coercion at her first victory– [3] After which statement, they have the face, the brass, the gross injustice, to object to her accepting the alliance of Russia! And this, when over & over, we have heard through this very paper, of Austria’s natural desire for the Russian alliance, & her various steps taken to procure it. But the fact is, that whatever France does, though she walk in the footprints of angels, is objected to systematically—it is French, therefore wrong—and we must look for the cause of this view, in small pitiful jealousies of the nation, and a vulgar attachment to the Austrian status quo which is supposed to be favorable to our material interests.
General Goyon has lately sent his nephew to Paris for instructions, & he has just returned– The Russells hearing that nothing is talked of in the Paris cafe’s &c, but war with England, Lady William Russell went to Madame Goyon [4] & asked her if it was true,—“Helas, oui,” said she, “c’est trop vrai: mais cela vient de vous et pas de nous.” [5]
Still, & with all my profound distrust of England, I do not believe that she will enter openly into a war against France & Italy, taking sides with Austria in the field– I do not & cannot yet believe it,—although the elections seem going in favor of Lord Derby, [6] & the public mind remains apparently in an obtuse state of indifference. But war in itself is objected to by this same public mind—war in itself being opposed to the public interests—and there is a party in England generous enough to protest loudly against the motive of this particular war—with all this, one remains somewhat anxious– Observe, Isa—if England were at this hour of the day to attempt to revive the infamous arrangements of 1815 by any such step, [7] .. she will drop like a pebble in a pool .. perish in her crime. Observe that–
I want you & Mr Trollope to read a pamphlet called “La Foi des Traités”—a new pamphlet ..written by the hand of Louis Napoleon. [8] It has that largeness of view common to him, & is very noble in many ways,—though of course it makes the hairs of ancient state[s]men (like Lord Stratford de Redcliffe here!) stand on end with horror.
The Emperor is very civil in it to everybody, even to Austria, even to the “Holy Alliance”, (with the mildest touch of sarcasm possible) but he is very civil & passes on .. out of sight of all the politicians of the day into the remotest millen[n]ium glory—and the pamphlet is otherwise interesting for its reference to his intentions with regard to France’s internal government, the repressive system [9] having been only adopted for a time as he stated at the beginning & restated afterwards & restates now— .. when the Empire is about to enter its “second phase.” If he lives & we all live, (we liberals) we shall be all of one mind about LN. Incarnation of the democracy!
I will tell you a secret .. which you must tell only to those who can keep a secret .. The French are in watch upon the pope.. who has a scheme of running away if possible!– The last demonstration by the Romans expresses the “civiltà” of this “popolo mite”. [10] A crowd in full dress, with white cravats, surrounding the carriage of the French minister ..not a voice raised, but every man of them taking off his hat!– Also the young men are silently drifting away day by day– The French protect them at the railway from the watching sbirri. [11]
No, Isa—indeed we dont think of Viareggio at present—we go straight to our Florence—setting out on the 24th or 5th & travelling the shortest way by Sienna.
Robert says its a capital plan of yours to put up a tricolor awning, for a mark for the Austrian cannonading on their invasion tomorrow or next day!! His best love ever. Read in the Athenæum how we have been vexed by Jessie White & her American friends. [12] She wrote me the most insulting letter. [13] And why? We were protecting our own friends & responsibilities simply– Write to me dearest Isa. I long to see you– The new inmate may be an advantage in some ways– [14] The Brackens decide at last on going to Florence. [15]
Your ever loving Ba–
Publication: B-IB, pp. 214–217.
Manuscript: Fitzwilliam Museum.
1. Dated by the similarity of EBB’s remarks on the war to those she makes in letter 4404 and by her comment at the end of this letter: “The Brackens decide at last on going to Florence” (see note 15 below).
2. An editorial in The Times of 28 April 1859 discussed the alliance between France and Russia that had been announced the day before: “The two great aggressive Powers of the world are united for common objects. Under the pressure of no mutual danger, compelled by no visible necessity, coerced by no antagonist, the Czar Alexander and the Emperor Napoleon III. have united their fleets and their armies. This alliance is marked by none of the causes which combine honest men for protection, but it has all the peculiarities which attach to an union by which strong men confederate to plunder” (p. 6).
3. A Times editorial published on 22 April 1859 speculated on the dangers that the French emperor could be contemplating in the light of recent events: “Napoleon III. has … heard of the movements that are being made in Germany; and he cannot but suspect that, when Prussia puts her troops in motion, it is not without some knowledge of the part which Russia is prepared to play in the great drama. He can look around, therefore, and see that his chosen antagonist [Austria] is likely to be able to devote the whole resources of her empire to the contest which he has challenged. He must by this time have meditated on the fact that Russia, Germany, and England have assumed an attitude already passively hostile, and are tending towards a state of even active coercion, if fortune should give him victory in the war” (p. 6).
4. Henriette Auriane de Goyon (née Montesquiou Fezensac, 1813–87), second daughter of Raymond Aimery de Montesquiou, Duc de Montesquiou Fezensac. We have been unable to identify General Goyon’s nephew.
5. “‘Alas, yes,’ said she, ‘it is too true: but that comes from you and not from us’.”
6. Following the dissolution of Parliament in April (see letter 4378, note 1), new elections held in May resulted in a Liberal majority of 51 seats in the House of Commons. A vote of no confidence on 10 June 1859 led to Derby’s resignation. EBB was well aware that Derby’s Conservative government was more favorably disposed towards Austria than was the Liberal faction led by Palmerston and Russell.
7. i.e., those made at the Congress of Vienna (see letter 4386, note 8).
8. La foi des traités, les puissances signataires et l’empereur Napoleon III (1859). It was promptly translated into Italian by Frédéric d’Hainault and published in Florence.
9. EBB refers to Napoleon III’s censorship of the press; see letter 3006, note 7.
10. “The ‘civility’ of this ‘gentle people’.”
11. “Policemen.”
12. See SD2259.
13. This letter has not surfaced.
14. Mary Katherine (“Kate”) Keemle Field (1838–96), daughter of American actors Joseph Matthew Field (1810–56) and Eliza (née Riddle, 1812–71), was in Florence to study voice under Felice Romani, the celebrated musical professor. She had sailed to Europe in January 1859 with her maternal aunt, Cordelia Sanford (née Riddle, 1822–94) and her husband, Milton H. Sanford (1813–83). After two months in Paris and one month in Rome, she and the Sanfords travelled to Florence in mid-April. The Sanfords returned to the United States, while Miss Field stayed on with Isa Blagden at Villa Brichieri (see Gary Scharnhorst, Kate Field: The Many Lives of a Nineteenth-Century American Journalist, Syracuse, New York, 2008, pp. 16–17).
15. Annette Bracken and her uncle William Bracken had recently returned to Rome from Naples. They left Rome for Florence on 12 May (see letter 4405).
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