4628. EBB to Isa Blagden
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 27, 234–238.
[Rome]
[22 March 1860] [1]
“And be slartered and slartered.....! [2] But ever dearest Isa, you will like to know that none of us are cut up to mince-meat in the affair on the Corso– Robert was dining there at Mr Cartwright’s, & saw something of it from the window—though it turns out still worse than he supposed at the time– [3] There was to be a demonstration in honor of Garibaldi, it was understood [4] —& the first intention was to meet at Porta Pia & walk; the scene being shifted afterwards to the Corso– Things went on quietly, till for some insufficient reason the papal carabineers arrested two young men– [5] French officers intervened & begged them off– Immediately afterwards, however other arrests were made– No French there to say a good word! So the people hissed, & there were cries of “Governaccio infame”, .. upon which, papal troops set about clearing the Corso with drawn swords, slashing right & left on women & children, & innocent men of all countries– Three or four French officers, for instance, were badly wounded, .. not to name the nephew [6] of General Goyon. And the American consul [7] says he owes his life to a Frenchman who caught the sword flashing down upon his head– Even the carriages were slashed at—& the princess Drago [8] happening to pass in hers, was so terrified at being attacked that she fainted on the spot– There are fourteen people in the hospitals, besides the quantity of suffering otherwise disposed of– At first fifty sufferers were named by a natural exaggeration—then twenty .. which must be much under the mark. [9]
Goyon is blamed bitterly for his ‘ordre du jour’ the next morning, stating that “the pope’s troops were right to keep order though they should not have used arms–” I dont like Goyon, who is codinaccio [10] & “grand bête” [11] besides—but his position is very difficult– If he had qualified the facts as they deserved, it would have been an affront to the papal authority—and to admit officially the wrong of using arms is essential condemnation to the strongest degree. But I do blame him that the French troops were not there, to keep order by legitimate means– Really the dishonor of these things & the responsibility for all the suffering, remain with France, while the pope is not only supported, but supported by means of this devilry– Goyon should say, “Let me do it at least.” Of course the misfortune was not forseen—but it ought to have been impossible– The Romans grind their teeth with rage, & comfort themselves with what must happen “when Napoleon hears of it”—and the French soldiers sympathize fully with the Romans– In fact the discontent of the French seems visibly increasing– Ferdinando comes home from market with a sympathetic Frenchman on each arm, discoursing of “Napoleon Trois et l’Italie”–
Dear, I am relieved of my false alarm about Savoy– Je me venge [12] on the Cartwright party by musing on the fact of their consternation at not finding the case so bad as they stated it– [13] Mr C. came in the next morning with the farther news that England had “protested” & that an alliance offensive & defensive was made with Prussia to defend the Rhine ..! [14] But all I cared for was the fact. If the popular Vote had been set aside, it would have been an ineffaceable blot in my eyes– I should have felt myself thrown out in my calculations about Napoleon– As it is, I continue to regret that this affair of Savoy has been mooted just now, but I understand his point of sight, & that sooner or later the step taken might have been adviseable– As far as rights go, it will be enough for me that Savoy desires annexation, & that Sardinia cedes– The outcry in England is simply jealousy of France as far as the outcry is honest at all, & otherwise, a mode of shuffling into office. Men, like Mr Cartwright, frankly avow that France is not good for England, & should be put down: her existence is an offence.
Still .. dont say anything tart about Mr Cartwright. Maledetto lui, [15] but we love him– He is very kind, very amiable, very fond of Robert (a reciprocal liking, mind) and liberal as the English call liberality– All he sees in Savoy or Italy either, is England’s interest—that’s an avowed principle.
Well—we must bear it– As to these reports, these are to be borne also– They dont kill Robert as they do me– He eats, drinks, sleeps & laughs under them. So much the better. I cant say as much .. that’s all.
Mr Hazard came in that morning– He congratulated me on the Central Italy vote, [16] & I could’nt help telling him how pained I was by the telegram .. which I did not believe. [17] In the most decided way, he said, “That is impossible, I know–” On which he went on to tell me his view of Napoleon, speaking precisely in my own sense—& observing that any departure from the democratical principle would wreck him for ever. He had watched him long, & observed his consistency & persistency– This cheered me rather– I had never talked with Mr Hazard, except of spiritualism–
I observe that the English are sore because they were not let into Cavour’s confidence as well as the emperor’s, [18] —& that the cession on the part of Piedmont is considered “very extraordinary” by Lord John– As if it was any nation’s affair except precisely Sardinia’s & Savoy’s– As to Switzerland, her neutrality will find g[u]arantees, I dare say–
Hatty arrived yesterday morning at three, & we expected a sign from her in the course of the day in vain– In the evening at a reception of Mrs Stowe’s Robert met Miss Cushman from whom he heard that Hatty was in great grief about a letter from her father– [19] I cant understand whether she found it in Rome or received it in Tuscany, but it told her of his illness by paralysis & decided her on going to America instantly if the next news were not fatal. Now said Miss Cushman, another letter had just arrived, & Hatty had taken it to her room. Therefore Miss C. was ignorant of the conclusion. Poor Hatty. Robert would have gone to enquire how it was, this morning,—but he went off as early as seven with Mr Cartwright to Albano. [20] I should like much to know, only it would’nt do to send a servant– Poor, poor Hatty– Miss Cushman said she arrived very tired, looking of all colours. Still, she was able to go out riding,—as Robert heard at her studio.
Miss Haworth is by this time in London, unless she has changed her mind .. which makes an infinite space for probabilities. She sent me a copied extract from a letter of Mrs Milner Gibson on spiritualism, & I sent it to Mr Kirkup– Mrs M G. says that she & “the Homes” meet every monday evening at one another’s houses to hold seânces, to which are admitted a fixed number of persons .. eight or ten, always the same. The manifestations are described as most marvellous—tables floated in the air with men as big as Thackeray [21] on them! Mrs M G. caught up on a chair herself– (And she is on the grand scale—) hands visible—bracelets taken off & put on again– She is to tell Miss Haworth more when she sees her. The especial object of these seânces is to “develop mediums”. So I hope the consequences may reach to us–
Let me tell you that the Holy Father has or supposes he has, a vision nightly of Santa Philomene [22] .. who exhorts him not to yield a point .. (Excellent Philomene!) besides visits from rapping spirits, .. resolveable however, says Borromeo, [23] into his knocking at the bedroom door, which terrifies the “Holiness of our Lord” to the degree of moving him to hide his head beneath the bedclothes. The old man’s nerves are said to be entirely broken up. ‘The poor old man’, I was going to write .. but remembered the Corso—& “I slarters & slarters”– I cant grow tender to such an “Anatomy of Melancholy”– [24]
Mr Kirkup observes mysteriously of Mr Landor .. that there’s a party about him, of whose bad faith he has doubted & warned him– What does he mean? What can he mean? Whom does Mr Landor associate with? It makes Robert quite uncomfortable–
I wont keep this letter to hear of Hatty, or for Robert’s love—but I send Pen’s– I am pretty well—much stronger certainly for the cod’s liver oil & warmer weather– Tell me how Miss Cobbe is– Theodore Parker, she will like to hear, is not gravely worse, though his spirits have faltered a little lately– But this is the effect we hope of certain imprudences which told in various ways– But I hope for him– For my part I should be dead ten times if I did the things he will do.
My dearest Isa’s ever most loving
Ba–
Publication: B-IB, pp. 311–315.
Manuscript: Fitzwilliam Museum.
1. Dated by the reference to RB’s visit to Albano with Cartwright (see note 20 below).
2. See the fourth paragraph in letter 4627.
3. The dinner took place on 19 March in Cartwright’s apartment at 63 Via del Corso. Besides RB, other guests included Odo Russell and Robert Charles Winthrop (1809–94), former Speaker of the House (1847–49) and senator from Massachusetts (1850–51). Cartwright described the chaotic scene on the Corso in his journal (see SD2355).
4. The feast of St. Joseph was Garibaldi’s name day (19 March). After Mass at the Church of San Giuseppe in the morning, “students sang a Te Deum for the brilliant result of the elections in Tuscany and Central Italy, which were in favour of annexation to Piedmont, and a tumult took place. A demonstration was announced for the evening” (The Roman Journals of Ferdinand Gregorovius: 1852–1874, ed. Friedrich Althaus, trans. Mrs. Gustavus W. Hamilton, 1907, p. 79). In a dispatch dated 20 March 1860, Odo Russell reported that “a crowd of people assembled at about 6 o’clock p.m. in the Corso and Piazza Colonna and gave out that they were celebrating the feast of Joseph Garibaldi’s patron saint. They were in Sunday attire with violets in their buttonholes and totally unarmed” (The Roman Question, ed. Noel Blakiston, 1962, p. 94).
5. In the same dispatch, Russell noted that the two arrested were “called Barberi, brothers, and tanners by profession” (The Roman Question, p. 94).
6. Unidentified.
7. John Potter Stockton (1826–1900), of New Jersey, was the U.S. minister to the Papal States, 1858–1861. He is listed in the Brownings’ address book of this period (AB-4) at Palazzo Simonetti, which was at this time the address of the American Legation in Rome.
8. Presumably Maria Milagros-Muñoz y Borbon, Marquesa de Castillejo (1835–1903), wife of Don Filippo Massimiliano del Drago, Prince di Mazzano e d’Antuni (1824–1913). The Dragos were married at Malmaison on 23 January 1856.
9. In his dispatch, Russell reported that there were “about one hundred and fifty wounded people in the Corso and adjacent streets” (The Roman Question, p. 95).
10. “Reactionary,” although EBB seems to have coined this form of the word “codini.”
11. “Very stupid.”
12. “I avenge myself.”
14. No such alliance occurred.
15. “Curse him.”
17. i.e., the telegram Cartwright had mentioned to EBB in letter 4627.
18. Cavour had signed with Napoleon III on 12 March a secret treaty, committing himself to give up Savoy and Nice. The secret nature of the negotiations was necessary because Cavour was not authorized to make these concessions. Emanuele d’Azeglio, Piedmont’s minister in London, wrote to Cavour on 14 April 1860: “Last night after I had gone to bed, Panizzi stayed up late round the fire with Lord Palmerston and Monckton Milnes, and Palmerston repeated what for some time has been his firm conviction, that he no longer esteems or trusts the Emperor. When he then said much the same about you, Panizzi came to your defense. Palmerston retorted: ‘Our quarrel with Cavour is not only for suppressio veri but for assertio falsi’” (Denis Mack Smith, The Making of Italy, 1796–1870, New York, 1968, p. 306).
19. Hiram Hosmer (1798–1862).
20. Albano, a summer resort from ancient times, is 14 miles S.E. of Rome on the Appian Way and is adjacent to the Pope’s summer palace at Castel Gandolfo. Cartwright recorded in his journal that the outing took place on 22 March (see SD2357).
21. William Makepeace Thackeray stood 6 feet 3 inches.
22. EBB’s source for this was undoubtedly Odo Russell. He wrote to Lord John Russell on 20 March: “The Pope has confided to his friends that he is directed in the policy he pursues by St Philomena, who appears to him in the night and tells him that his policy is the policy of God. Poor man!” (The Roman Question, p. 95). Saint Philomene was thought to be a virgin martyr whose bones were found near Naples; however, this was later judged unhistorical.
23. Edoardo Borromeo (1822–81), a descendant of an ancient and illustrious Paduan family, was ordained by Pius IX in 1846. He had long been a loyal member of the Pope’s inner circle and was with him during his exile to Gaeta.
24. Robert Burton (1577–1640), The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621).
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