4614. EBB to Isa Blagden
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 27, 204–207.
Rome.
Monday & Tuesday– [5–6 March 1860] [1]
Dearest of Isas, I hate writing by private hand—you wont have the satisfaction of paying for my letter—& then all the time you read it you would rather be listening to Hatty talking. [2] Dear, Robert & I have been swearing at you for leaving Casa Guidi, & prophesying that your visitor will put off her visit & leave you to “your luck” and a cold house. But from something Robert heard last night from Mrs Apthorpe, we conclude that you are not disappointed,—that you are walking in the Garden of the Hesperides [3] & holding your golden Cobb–
By the way, I understand that Theodore Parker speaks of her in a rapture—with the highest esteem & admiration– [4] I do hope & trust she may soon be better, & able to enjoy Florence & you. (How disinterested I am, to be sure!) Will you give her my remembrances, & say so?
Now, my Isa, if you wonder at my remarkableness of good humour today, & how my characteristic sternness has disappeared, I must tell you that yesterday I was miserable & that the reaction since, of receiving your despatch & also the Tuscan papers, has lifted me up cheerily in proportion ..– Mr Cartwright kills me outright with his secret information about all sorts of things proving the emperor of the French a devil, & the whole world going to him in that capacity. I assure you Mr Cartwright only lives in the hope of this– I believe he has insured his life & perhaps his salvation afterwards, on the point of it, & that lately he has been sinking into depths of despondency, (quite alarming to his friends) on account of the undeniable quantity of good news– Well—yesterday he arrived in quite a lively, exhilarated state– Electrical despatch about the Emperor’s speech in his pocket– “Emperor would’nt allow Piedmont to absorb any more territory, after Parma & Modena– Emperor would’nt permit Tuscany to annex– Emperor left Romagna to the Pope– Emperor stated nine millions of subjects as the utmost permissible to Piedmont,—Emperor would sieze Savoy & Nice, disputing them with the Great Powers– Emperor had communicated to Piedmont that in the case of objections, he would draw off his troops, & leave Italy to the intervention of Austria–”– [5]
But, when I could recover breath, … “if this is true, what was meant by the English alliance..” said I–
“I never supposed he meant anything by the English alliance, but an opportunity to sieze Savoy——”
Pazienza! I did not swallow everything of course—but a mouthful was enough to damage one’s digestion for the day– I was sick, that such things should be said .. & had to wait all those hours till I received your telegraph–
After all, Isa, I wish we had the speech– He does still seem to advise against annexation– And what is meant by papal rights–? [6]
May the elections go well in Tuscany. [7] It is an anxious time altogether– Does Dall’Ongaro’s correspondent [8] write again, & what is said? Tell him what deep anxiety I am in. And let him be as generous to me as he can–
I am struggling for strength—but the other ear “took up the strain,” & I have been in much pain & feverishness for several days– There was gathering inside—& now the crisis is past, & today I am easy again. Only weak, Isa. I have begun with the oil—& I have the window open on most days– The weather has been beautiful, & I should have been out for a week if I had been quite up to it– Now that I am easier, I shall find room to grow stronger–
Dear, write & send me news–
I forget to say how we enjoyed what you told us of Mlle de Fauveau– She is interesting.
Tell me, Isa, was it you who informed Mrs Trollope of the promised Majority to Mr Tassinari, mentioned in her paper [9] —or how did she hear it? For my part I would never hold intercourse with anyone in Tuscany who was conspiring, to my knowledge, against the government–
Tell Dall’Ongaro that his illumination could have been nothing brilliant– It was “occult” as Odo Russell [said], if at all– I fancy I heard something of certain lights some where about that time––but Robert declares I must have dreamed it. The fact is, the republic is not the idea in Rome, at present– Mr Story who has a tenderness for it, & hates France, & was here full of sympathy for Mazzini at the time of the siege, says now (he having much intercourse with the popular Roman classes & others) that nobody here is republican anymore—everybody wants a united Italy with Kingship–
The letter to the ‘Patrie’ is very good. I liked the frank acceptance of any mode of voting for Tuscany—& the manner of treating the Savoy question, also– But what I want is the sight of more letters from Paris–
Of course the Emperor could not speak of Venetia in his official speech– [10] That omission would not therefore disappoint me–
But I want the rest out in a clearer way.–
There are immense difficulties which we do not see, I can easily believe—difficulties in France, difficulties in Europe.
The report of the alliance between Austria & Russia terrified me– And the authority of the Morning Chronicle seemed strong– Such an alliance would have been fatal to Italy, or, at best, have issued in a general war. [11]
Was not the majority for ministers magnificent? [12] And but for the treaty it would have been a minority. At least so the ministry feared, & were prepared to dissolve parliament & appeal to the country– But placed between their constituency & the treaty, the opposition perished from its power.
I must end– Write– Dont let Miss Cobb swallow you up– Pen’s love–
Your loving Ba–
Publication: B-IB, pp. 298–301.
Manuscript: Fitzwilliam Museum.
1. Dated by EBB’s reference to Cartwright’s “electrical despatch” (see note 5 below) and to the forthcoming elections in Tuscany (see note 7 below); 5 and 6 March 1860 were the only Monday and Tuesday between the Emperor’s speech and the elections.
2. Harriet Hosmer was soon to leave Rome for Florence; see the fourth paragraph in letter 4616.
4. Frances Power Cobbe (1822–1904) was converted from Christianity to Theism as a result of reading Parker’s Discourse of Matters Pertaining to Religion (Boston, 1842); see Life of Frances Power Cobbe, as Told by Herself (1904), pp. 97–99. For many years she had corresponded with Parker but only met him shortly before his death. In her autobiography she writes: “It was at Florence in 1860 that I met Theodore Parker for the first time. After the letters of deep sympathy and agreement on religious matters which had passed between us, it was a strange turn of fate which brought him to die in Florence, and me to stand beside his death-bed and his grave” (p. 371).
5. Napoleon III addressed the National Assembly on 1 March 1860. Although he spoke on the issues mentioned here, the speech, as translated in The Times of the following day, contained none of the ultimatums reported by Cartwright. However, regarding Savoy, the emperor explained: “Looking to this transformation of Northern Italy, which gives to a powerful State all the passes of the Alps, it was my duty, for the security of our frontiers, to claim the French slopes of the mountains. This reassertion of a claim to a territory of small extent has nothing in it of a nature to alarm Europe” (p. 9). Cartwright’s journal entry of 4 March 1860 reads: “The emperor’s speech to the Chambers is here interpreted in a favorable sense & loud demonstrations of joy are taking place amongst the adherents of the Pope. To me his declaration about the rights of the Holy See read as their consignment amongst the musty records which garnish the muniment room & are perceived as obsolete curiosities” (ms at Northamptonshire).
6. On these subjects, Napoleon III said: “Guaranteeing Italy by my army against foreign intervention, I had the right to assign limits of that guarantee. Therefore I did not hesitate to declare to the King of Sardinia that, while leaving him full liberty of action, I could not follow him in a policy which had the fault of appearing in the eyes of Europe a desire to absorb all the States of Italy, and which threatened new conflagrations. I counselled him to reply favourably to the wishes of the provinces which should offer themselves to him, but to maintain the independence of Tuscany, and to respect in principle the rights of the Holy See” (The Times, 2 March 1860, p. 9).
7. A plebiscite held in Tuscany on 11 and 12 March 1860 gave voters two choices: annexation by Piedmont or the establishment of a separate Kingdom. Annexation won by an overwhelming majority (see letter 4622, note 3).
8. Charles Fauvety; see letter 4616, note 2.
9. EBB refers to a passage in the penultimate paragraph of Theodosia Trollope’s article (dated New Year’s Eve) in The Athenæum of 16 January 1860 (no. 1681, p. 53): “The hatching of strife between England and Tuscany is just now a pet project with the codino [reactionary] party; and we can easily imagine ‘Nandino’ [i.e., Ferdinand IV] writing to his trusty friends in Florence to the effect that a little wholesome agitation in that or any other line just before Congress meets would be a great help to his cause, and deserve a proportionate reward,—say a Majority in the army or a fat pension,—on his return to the throne of Tuscany.”
10. The French emperor did mention Venetia but mainly as a matter of regret: “The dominant idea of the Treaty of Villafranca was to obtain the almost complete independence of Venetia at the price of the restoration of the Archdukes. That transaction having failed, despite my most earnest endeavours, I have expressed my regret thereat at Vienna as well as at Turin, for the situation by being prolonged threatened to lead to no issue” (The Times, 2 March 1860, p. 9).
11. The Morning Chronicle of 27 February reported news of a proposed alliance between Austria and Russia by which, in exchange for concessions made by Austria regarding “the Danubian provinces and Servia,” Russia would “guarantee to Austria the whole of her territory, including Hungary and Venetia, against insurrection and foreign foes” (p. 5). However, in the issue of 2 March, it was announced that “Russia will not aid Austria in Italy. Russia makes this change in the stipulations of the Treaty because she wishes to remain on good terms with France. Hence she will not interfere in Italy; but she will act with Austria in any complication that may arise in regard to the countries on the Danube, or to affairs in Hungary” (p. 4).
12. The commercial treaty between England and France that had been signed on 23 January was ratified on 28 February. During the Parliamentary deliberations there were several votes, each one providing a large majority in favour. These majorities were effectively votes of confidence for the Palmerston government.
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