4477. EBB to Pasquale Villari
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 26, 271–272.
Villa Alberti. Siena
August 27. [1859] [1]
Dear M. Villeri, I will not delay any longer, (& indeed I have seemed to delay too long) telling you how much touched I was by your kindness in writing to enquire after my health. I am much better & recovering strength slowly after what has been a very serious attack, the air & scenery through the open windows of this villa helping me much, & the hopes of our Italy, still more.
What a spectacle! What a grand attitude for a nation, only rising out of chaos, scarcely named yet, but wonderful already with the calm & dignity of matured life! I look over the world and doubt if there is a population anywhere capable of so much energy in order, & unanimity of sublime sentiment as your people presents– If I could have ease about Venetia I should be perfectly consoled for Villafranca–
Yet, dear M. Villeri, no Italian of you all has suffered more anguish from that blow than I have. It was as if the stars fell out of heaven like snow, while we were calling them stars & spheres– At the same time I recovered my faith quicker than some of you, & my hope with it,—and now that events ripen, & one gets to think as well as feel, I seem to be able to understand & to recover a steady footing for past opinions.
When we were at Rome last spring the emperor Napoleon had already said to his ambassador there, “The Italians shall choose their own governments—& if it pleases the Tuscans to recall their Gd Duke, qu’est ce que cela me fait?[”]– [2] He said no more than that at Villafranca– He has since “recommended” the recall “in order to facilitate the peace”, and to prove to Europe that he did “not come to Italy”, as he said before, “to dispossess the sovereigns” [3] .. and also to “constater” [4] what the choice of the populations really is. He wishes to illicit [5] popular opinion in the strongest expression compatible with order, that he may present a clear and large Italian case to congress. That is becoming evident to all, I think– He will prove loyal to Italy, even as Italy is proved worthy of herself. His hand was forced at Villafranca (which remains the shame of the world) but his heart & his head have never been forced, and maintain towards the Italian cause all their largeness & sagacity.
I call your attention to the French amnesty &c as verifying that remarkable book “La foi des traites,” which speaks of these & other liberal measures as intended to illustrate the “second phase of the Empire,” in connection with the liberation of Italy.
Dear M. Villeri, whether we agree or disagree on certain points, in the one great interest and exultation as we look around us, there can be no shade of difference– My husband & I congratulate you from our hearts .. and these hearts of ours too, are proud & glad for your Italy.
Affectionately and
faithfully yours
Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
We return to Florence early in October, & then shall hope to see you.
Publication: Edward C. McAleer, “Pasquale Villari and the Brownings,” Boston Public Library Quarterly, 9 (1957), 44–45 (as 29 August [1859]).
Manuscript: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana.
1. Year provided by EBB’s reference to Villafranca.
4. “Ascertain.”
5. Sic, for “elicit.”
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