_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Villa Morelli, Florence, _Jan_. 3,1866.
“I came back from Spezzia this morning to find your pleasant letter
and its enclosure. I thank you much for both. I wanted the money not
a little, but half suspect I wanted the kind assurances of your
satisfaction just as much. I was not content with your opinion of the
last ‘O’Dowds,’ most probably from some lurking suspicion that you might
be right, and that they were not as good as they ought to be, or as I
meant them to be. Now I am easier on that score,--and since I have seen
them in print I am better pleased also.
“My Xmas was cut in two: I was obliged to go down to Spezzia the
day after Christmas Day and stay there ever since, idling, far from
pleasantly, and living at a bad inn somewhat dearer than the Burlington.
I could not write while there; but I have turned over a couple of
‘O’Dowds’ in my head, and if they be heavy don’t print them, and I’ll
not fret about it. It’s not very easy, in a place like this, where
the only conversation is play or intrigue, to find matters of popular
interest.
“I often wish I could break new ground; but I’m too old, perhaps, to
transplant. But I’ll not grumble now: it’s Christmas, and I wish you and
all around you every happiness that Christmas should bring.
“I hope you like my last envoy of ‘Sir B.’ which I trust to see in proof
in a few days.
“I was half tempted to make an ‘O’Dowd’ on the recent installation of
a Knight of St Patrick, as described in an Irish paper: ‘The mantle is
worn over one shoulder and falls gracefully on the ground, the legend
_Quis Separabit_ being inscribed on the decoration of the collar.’
What with the trailing garment, I was sorely tempted to translate Quis
Separabit ‘Who’ll tread on me?’
“I was right glad to read of Fergusson’s honours. What a manly bold
letter that was of his about the Negro atrocities. I vow to God I have
not temper to write of them.
“I hear young Lytton is likely to lose his sight,--some terrible
inflammation of the iris, I believe, and it is feared must end in total
blindness.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Villa Morelli, Florence, _Jan_. 5,1866.
“I am so ‘shook’ by a bad train and a [? wetting] that I can scarcely
hold a pen, and my head is still addled with the crash and reverberation
of big guns, for I have been ‘assisting’ at the trial of armour-plates,
with steel shot, for the Italian Navy,--though what they have to do with
the subject, seeing that they neither fire at the enemy or wait to be
fired at, is more than I know.
“Persano was so overcome by terror that he was literally carried down
the ladder to his gig, when he changed his flag to the _Affondatore_.
The _on dit_ is he will be dismissed from the service. Quite enough, God
knows, for any shortcoming; for bravery, after all, as Dogberry says of
reading and writing, is ‘the gift of God.’
“We have had a sombre Xmas here: my wife very ill, and the rest of us
poorly enough.
“There is not a word of news. A small squabble with the Turks, who fired
at one of the ships, has made the Italians warlike once more, and they
are crying out, ‘Hold me, for you know my temper!’ But it will blow over
after some un-grammatical interchange of despatches, and be forgotten.
“Hardman was dining with me the other day, when an Italian admiral--the
ablest man they have--launched out fiercely against ‘The Times’ and its
Italian correspondent. The thing was too late for remedy, but Hardman’s
good sense prevented further embarrassment.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Villa Morelli, _Jan_. 7, 1866.
“I hope long ere this your face-ache has left you. I dread these
neuralgic things, having had one or two seizures of them: and they are
so infernally treacherous; they come back just when one is triumphing
over being rid of them.
“I send you some O’Ds. One, I hope, will please you--the ‘Two
Rebellions.’ I know you will go with me in the d------d cowardice of the
newspaper fellows talking to a man in a pinch and saying how he should
behave. I had one of these men out in my boat at Spezzia, and such
a pluckless hound I never saw, and yet if you read his Garibaldian
articles in the paper, you’d have thought him a paladin!
“I read this O’D. aloud here, and it was thought the best I had done for
some time. The ‘Extradition’ is not bad, the rest are so-so.
“You will see I am right in condemning the conduct of the Catholic party
about Fenianism, and also as to the intentions of the Government of
rewarding their loyalty! It will be a great parliamentary fight, and my
paper will be well timed.
“Is Mrs Blackwood coming to town this spring? I’d like to think we could
see the Burlington repeat itself, and be as jolly as it was last year.
It did me a world of good as to spirits and courage that trip, though it
made a hole in my time--and my pocket.
“I am afraid I must go down to Spezzia again, and for a week too. The
cares of office are heavy, and I am afraid I serve a country ungrateful
enough not to appreciate me.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Villa Morelli, Florence, _Jan_. 20, 1866.
“I have been obliged to put off Spezzia till the 20th, but shall have
to pass a week or ten days there _then_. Meanwhile I am at work thinking
over (not writing) ‘Sir Brook.’ I want to do the thing well, but I have
not yet got the stick by the handle.
“From what I can pick up from those who read O’D., no paper ought to
have more than one joke. One plum to a pudding is the English taste.
All the rest must be what the doctors call ‘vehicle,’ and drollery be
administered in drop doses. Of course I get public opinion in a very
diluted form here,--but such is the strength in which it reaches me.
“Robt. Lytton is better,--one eye safe, and hopes of the other. Have you
heard that Oliphant has been dangerously ill, at N. York?--a menace
of softening of the brain having declared itself, and of course such a
malady is never a mere threat. I am sincerely sorry for him, and so will
you be.
“My trip to town will depend on the events in the House. If our friends
come in I will certainly go over. Tell Mrs Blackwood to read O’Dowd on
‘Thrift ‘: she will see that there are certain people it will never do
with.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Villa Morelli, Florence, _Feb_. 3, 1866.
“If what I hear be true, our friends have made a precious ‘fiasco’ of it
in their game of politics. They have so palpably shown Lord Russell all
the weak points of his Bill--every damaging ingredient in it--that he
has deliberately changed the whole structure, enlarged its provisions,
and made it (appear at least) such a measure as may settle the question
of Reform for some years to come. It is so like the Conservatives! They
certainly are more deficient in the skill required to manage a party
than any section in the House. Why, in Heaven’s name, show their hand?
and above all, why show it before the trump-card was turned? If their
cause were twice as good as it is, and if the men who sustain it
were fourfold as able, the press of the Party would reduce it to
insignificance and contempt. Never was such advocacy in the world as
‘The Herald’ and ‘Standard.’
“A few days ago, and even his own papers declared Lord R. was rushing
to his ruin; but the Conservatives cried out ‘Take care!’ and he has
listened to the warning. A mere franchise reform must have inevitably
wrecked him. The very carrying it would have been a success that must
have been worse than any defeat. I don’t think that men so inept as the
Tories deserve power, and I’m sure they could not retain it if they got
it.
“I hear Mill was a failure, and I own I’m not sorry. I hate the men he
belongs to, either in letters or politics. Bright was certainly good.
It was Bow-wow! but still a very good Bow-wow!--better than the polished
platitudes of Gladstone, which the world accepts as philosophy.
“But confound their politics. I send you ‘B. F.,’ and I send it early,
because I want the proof back as soon as you can. I am going to idle,
but whether at Rome or across to Sardinia, or only over to Elba, I have
not decided. I am hipped and want some change,--the real malady being
I’m growing old, and don’t like it, and revenge my own stupidity by
thinking the people I meet insupportably dull and tiresome.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Villa Morelli, Florence, _Feb_. 6, 1866.
“I begin a short note to you now that I have just got back, full sure
that I shall have to acknowledge one from you before I finish.
“I am glad to see ‘The Times’ extract largely from the ‘Two Rebellions.’
The Jamaica affair, I hear, will be the _acrimonious_ fight of the
session. What I am told is that the country will stand at present no
Ministry of which Gladstone is not a part, and that if Lord R. goes (as
he may), it must be some patchwork of Stanley, Gladstone, and some
mild members of the Conservative party. One thing I am _assured_ is
certain,--Gladstone is far less liberal than he was.
“I own I am more puzzled than enlightened by all this, but I give it as
I get it.
“Jamaica is a bad business. Had they lynched Gordon it would have been
all right; but the mock justice was dreadful! Besides, it really pushes
High Churchism too far to hang a man because he has not attended a
vestry.
“The post is in, and no letter from you. No matter! I meant to idle
to-day; and so I’ll stroll into Florence and gossip at the Legation,
where I can post you the three ‘O’Dowds’ I have done for next month,--a
short paper, but perhaps long enough. I wrote ‘The Tiger’ under the
infliction of a d------d old Indian, who’ll kill _me_ if this paper
doesn’t kill _him_.
“Do you know anything of a new magazine which Cholmondeley Pennell is
going to edit? Bulwer and Browning are, I believe, in his interest. He
writes me a long yarn about it, but I think he has too many poets on his
list for success.
“It struck me last night what a good _Noctes_ might be made out of your
corps,--with Lytton, Hamley, Oliphant, and O’Dowd all talking after
their several ways. Wouldn’t it be a rare bit of fun?
“A millionaire countryman of yours has actually beggared me at whist,
and the d------d ass can’t play at all.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Florence, _March_ 10,1866.
“I have corrected this without my wife’s aid, for she is too weak and
poorly to help me, and it will require careful looking over. I am glad
you like it; I rather think well of it on re-reading.
“I believe my holiday is knocked up, and a chance of O’Dowding the
Pope to be deferred, for I must hasten off to Spezzia to meet a Royal
Commission on the Arsenal. I hope I may have the O’D. proof before I go,
as I may be detained a week.
“Have you any weekly [‘Saturday Review,’ ‘Examiner,’ Spectator,’ or
other) that has literary news, reviews, &c. disposable? if so, and
perfectly convenient, send it to me occasionally, for I get too much
‘bent’ in politics,--_malgré moi._
“I really would rather be porter to the House than a lord-in-waiting.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Villa Morelli, _March_ 14, 1866.
“A patchwork quilt is cakes and gingerbread compared to this blessed
proof, but I’m in and out a Georges Dandin! You said, and said truly,
that the sketch of the House was meagre, and I have dilated--I hope not
diluted--it; but my writing is open to that rendering.
“I have made the ‘Fenian Pest’ also a little fatter. Will you try and
see that the slips come on at their proper places.
“I am not well. It may be gout, it may be fifty things, but it _feels_
d------ly like breaking up. I ought to be at Spezzia, but I am so out
of sorts that I don’t like leaving home. After all, I have no right to
complain. I have been a good many years in commission, and never docked
yet for repairs!
“Dizzy is going to let Gladstone have a walk over for the first racing,
but I suspect that the real jockeyship will be to make the first and
last heats the race.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Villa Morelli, _March_ 26, 1866.
“It is only to-day that I feel able to write a line and thank you. Your
letter and cheque reached me two days ago, but I did not like to make my
daughter write to you lest you should feel alarmed at it.
“I am a little better,--I am, that is to say, in less pain, but very
weak and low. I believe I shall rub through it, but it must be a close
thing. It was, after all, only what Curran called ‘a runaway knock.’ but
it sounded wonderfully as if I was wanted.
“They don’t talk any more of knife-work, and, so far, I am easier in
mind; but my nerves are so shaken by pain and bad nights that whatever
promised relief would be welcome.
“I have two chaps, of ‘Sir B.’ ready, but perhaps next week--I hope
so--I will be able to go on. It would be a comfort to me to be at work.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Villa Morelli, Florence, _April_ 5,1866.
“I send you enough to make the May ‘Sir Brook,’--at least it will be
wellnigh a sheet. I am gaining, but slowly. My debility is excessive,
partly from all the blood I have lost; but my head is free, and I think
I could work better than usual if I had the strength for it.
“All my thanks for your kindest of notes and the O’D. enclosure. I could
not acknowledge them earlier, for I kept all my pen-power for the story.
Try and let me have it back soon; and, meanwhile, I mean to change the
air and go to Carrara. The doctors think that I must have patience,
and abstain from all treatment for a while. It is evidently as hard to
launch me (into the next world) as to get the _Northumberland_ afloat. I
stick on the ‘ways,’ and the best they can say of me is that I have, up
to this, received ‘no fatal damage.’
“I wish I was near enough to talk to you: my spirits are not bad, and
when out of pain I enjoy myself much as usual.
“What a fiasco the Derby party are making of the situation! At a time
when it is all-important to conciliate the outlaying men of all parties
they single them out for attack, as [? for example] Whiteside’s stupid
raid against Sir Robert Peel for the escape of Stephens. There never
was a party in which the man-of-the-world element was so lamentably
omitted....
“After all, it is a party without a policy, and they have to play the
game like the fellows one sees punting at Baden, who, when they win a
Louis, change it at once and go off to the silver table.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Villa Morelli, Florence, _April_ 16,1866.
“It was a great relief to my mind to know that ‘Sir B.’ was up to the
mark, as your note tells me, for I felt so shaken by illness that very
little would have persuaded me the whole craft was going to pieces; and
all they said to me _here_ I took as mere encouragement, though, sooth
to say, my home critics do not usually spoil me by flatteries. I am
better, but not on the right road somehow. I am deplorably weak, and my
choice seems to be between debility and delirium tremens, for to keep up
my strength I drink claret all day long.
“How the Conservatives must have misplayed the game! To show the
Ministry the road out of the blunder was as stupid a move as ever was
made, and yet it is what they have done. They ought, besides, to have
widened their basis at once by making Lord Stanley a _pont du diable_ to
reach Lowe and Horsman. There is a current hypocrisy in English public
opinion--about admitting new men--sharing the sweets of office and such
like. Why not cultivate it?
“From men who ought to know, I am told war is _certain_ between Prussia
and Austria.
“There is a rumour here that Italy offered terms to Austria for the
cession of Venice, even to the extent of troops! It is hard to believe
it. The Austrian alliance, if it were possible, would be the crowning
policy of Italy and the only barrier against France; but national
antipathies are hard to deal with, and here they are positively
boundless.”
_To Dr Burbidge_
“Florence, _Friday, April_ 1866.
“My thanks for your most kind note. My attack was only a ‘runaway
knock’ after all I believe when the _pallida mors_ does come, he gives a
summons that there’s no mistaking. But I was only ill enough to suggest
to _myself_ the way by which I might become worse, and now it’s all
over.
“I cannot make up my mind about the house till I go down and see in what
state I receive it. There is, I suspect, _very_ little furniture; but I
mean to see, and decide soon, if I can. I assure you I look on £90 for
a very poor quarter in a very poor place as a large rent, though you do
persist in knocking my head off on account of my extravagance, which is
a mere tradition, and you might as well bring up against me my idleness
at school. The worst is, I used formerly to make money as easily as I
spent it. I now find a great disinclination to work--that is, I am well
aware, an expression for a disability.”
_To Dr Burbidge._
“Casa Capponi, Florence, _Thursday, May_ 1866.
“By a telegram from Sanders, received too late to reply to by post
yesterday, I learned that our funds had amounted to sixty-five pounds,
and I accordingly wrote to ‘My Lord’ to state as much, and also that the
congregation, alike in grateful recognition of the gratuitously afforded
services of Doctor Burbidge, as in the very fullest desire to secure his
services, had appointed him to the chaplaincy,--a nomination which, in
the event of any subsidy from the F. Office, they earnestly hoped his
lordship would confirm.
“I believe I said it in rather choice phrase, but that was the
substance, and I am very hopeful that he will do all that we ask.
“My wife had another attack of the _rigor_ and fever yesterday, and
Wilson apprehends some tertian character has inserted itself into the
former illness. She is very ill indeed, so much so that although my
married daughter is confined to bed and seriously ill at a hotel only a
few hundred yards off, Julia cannot leave the house to see her. You see
how impossible it would be for me to be away.
“I write very hurriedly, but I wished you to know that all, so far as we
can do it, is now done, and if F. O. will only be as gracious as I hope,
we shall have accomplished our great wish, and the Spezzia chaplaincy be
a fact.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Florence, _May_ 2, 1866.
“Herewith goes the next ‘Sir B.’ I was very glad indeed to get your last
few lines, for I am low, low! I can’t pick up, somehow. But I don’t want
to bore you with myself or _mes maux_.
“So they won’t resign! I think, on the whole, it’s as well,--I mean,
that seeing what sort of composite thing a new Government must be, and
how the Whigs have been beaten by a ‘byblow’--not in a fair fight by the
regular Opposition,--it’s better to wait and see.
“Here we are going to war and to bankruptcy together. The only question
is, Which will be first? That infernal knave L. Nap. has done it all,
and the Italians are always cheated by him through thinking that they
are greater cheats than himself. But an old boatman of mine at Spezzia
said, ‘There are three _nations_ that would out-rogue the devil,--the
Calibrese, the Corsicans, and the _Pigs_.’ How the last came to their
nationality I can’t explain.
“You have seen notice of the Bishop of Limerick’s death. I don’t think
he has, in one respect, left his equal behind him in the Irish Bench. He
was the most thoroughly tolerant man I ever knew, and half a dozen men
like him would do more to neutralise the acrimony of public feeling
in Ireland than all the Acts of Parliament. His intellect was just as
genial as his heart.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Florence, _May_ 15, 1866.
“I wish I could pack myself up in the envelope that holds this and join
you at breakfast in that pleasant parlour in the Old Burlington, where
we laughed so much last spring; but there are good reasons for not
saluting the General, beginning with the small one, ‘no powder.’
“Here we are in ruin. Gold and silver are all withdrawn from
circulation, and the small notes promised by the Government delayed in
issue to enable a set of scoundrelly officials to sell the reserve gold
at 10 per cent and silver at 12. The banks will not discount, nor will
they advance (the latter of most moment to _me_), and we are in all
the pains of bankruptcy without that protection which a prison affords
against dunning.
“I sent off ‘Sir B.’ proof to-day to W. B. I am sincerely glad you like
it.
“I make no way towards strength or spirits. I believe with _me_ they
mean the same thing.
“If we have no war, we shall have a revolution here. All the good powder
will not be wasted!”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Villa Morelli, Florence, _June_ 11,1866.
“Is it ignorant or wilful stupidity in the English papers that ignores
the part L. Nap. is playing in the foreign imbroglio? It is one or the
other. The whole machinery is his; and the very hot enthusiasm we see
here was first excited by P. Napoleon’s visit and the encouragement the
‘Reds’ got from him.
“If Elliot were worth a sou, England would have been able to avert the
war. There was one moment in which Austria would have listened, _if only
warned of the treachery_ planned against her. Hudson would have been the
man here.
“Don’t send me any bill or cheque, for we are deluged with paper money
here, and are obliged to pay from 5 to 8 per cent to change large notes
into small. Even the 100-f. note costs this. I must try and get money
out in gold (Naps., not sovereigns) through F. O. Any of the messengers
will take it. Could you find out for me if it would be more profitable
to buy Naps, in London, or change notes or sovereigns for them in Paris?
Already this new form of robbery is half ruining us all here.
“I have been living on loans from my wife for six months, and she has at
last stopped the supplies, though I have willingly offered to raise the
rate of interest. Perhaps she suspects I shall not be able to raise the
wind.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Croce di Malta, Spezzia, _June_ 15, 1866.
“Here I am at my post. Spezzia is about to receive a new accession of
greatness and become the station for transmitting the post to England
and France, as the Bologna line will have to be given up entirely to the
army to advance or retreat on, as events may determine.
“I have been three days here. I am the only _stranger_ (!) in the place.
All the hotels empty, and I have the Gulf to my own swimming.
“There’s a pretty little girl, a granddaughter of Lord Byron, here--Lady
Arabella Nash--on a visit to the Somervilles.
(“By the way, has granddaughter two d’s or one? I have left it both ways
in the proof which I send you by this post.)
“I wish I could get a house down here, and retire from the pomps and
short whists of life, the odd tricks and all the honours!
“There is one--only one; but the scoundrel asks me an iniquitous rent.
He knows, Italian like, that I have a fancy for it, and he’ll keep it
unlet to torture me.
“I shall be back in time for the O’D. proof (if it should be sent out),
and you shall have it by return.
“One comfort--at least we are promised it--of the new postal line will
be an express train down here, for at present the railroad is only
something above a fast walking pace, and the cabs at the station always
announce to the late arrivals that they can overtake the train at will.
“Do you believe in war yet? And how long do you believe you can keep out
of it? The French Emperor’s real reluctance is not knowing what England
might do with a change of Government, what Tory counsels might advise,
and what possible alliance with Russia might ensue if it was once
clearly seen what the aggressive designs of France meant. Many here
assert (and not fools either) that L. Nap. has decided on taking the old
‘Cisalpine Gaul’ (with Turin, &c.).”
_To Mr Alexander Spencer._
“Florence [or Spezzia], _June 17_,1866.
“I am in the midst of great difficulties. Chapman & Hall, after years
of intercourse, have shown the cloven foot, and are displaying [tactics]
which, if successful, will wrest from me all my copyrights and leave me
ruined. The story is long and intricate, nor could I at all events bore
you with a recital which nothing but time, temper, and good management
may conduct to a good result. My present anxiety is [to know] if [ ]
remitted to you £60 to go towards the insurances. He says he did, but he
is well capable of deceiving me. I had half a mind to go over to
England the other day and put the affair into a lawyer’s hands, but my
difficulty was to know how, having begun such litigation, I was to bear
its charges and at the same time earn my daily bread.
“Fred Chapman is now here, having come out to induce me to give him
an assignment of all my copyrights as security for a debt they claim
against me of £2500, but which I utterly deny and dispute.
“Drop me one line to say if the £60 has reached you.
“How are you all, and how does time treat you? I am growing terribly
old--older than I ever thought or feared I should feel myself. Does my
last book please you? Some of my critics call it my best; but I have
lost faith in them as in myself, and I write as I live--from hand to
mouth.
“My poor old friend James has just died at Venice, an utter break-up of
mind having preceded the end.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Villa Morelli, _June_ 24, 1866.
“I see by the telegram that the Whigs have resigned, and it is [Lord
Dunkellin’s] jaw-bone has slain the giant. Oh dear, do you know him? He
dined here with us some short time ago, with Gregory and some others,
and we thought him the poorest thing of the lot.
“I have great doubts that our people can form an Administration. They
have the cane too, it is true, to help them; but they may have to give
all the plums to their supporters, and their old friends won’t like
eating the ‘dough’ for _their_ share of the pudding.
“Worse than this is the miserable press of the Party. Can’t men see that
the whole tone of public opinion in England has taken the Italian side
of the Venetian question? There is no longer a right and wrong in these
things when sympathies--and something stronger than sympathies--come in;
and the stupid ‘Standard’ goes on raving about treaties scarcely a rag
of which remain, and which every congress we have held since ‘13 has
only demolished some part of. If Austria be wise and fortunate she will
take Silesia and make peace with Italy, ceding Venice. What every one
wants is securities against France; but we have converted the brigand
into a sheriffs officer, and thrown an air of legality over all his
robberies.
“That Europe endures the insolence of his late letter is the surest
evidence of the miserable cowardice of the age.
“The scene of the king’s departure here was very touching. He left at 3
o’clock on Monday, just as day was breaking, but the whole city was
up and in the streets to take leave of him. All the ladies in their
carriages, and the great squares crammed as I never saw them on Monday.
The king was so moved that he could not speak, and the enthusiasm was
really overwhelming. If this army gets a first success it will dash on
gallantly and do well; if it be repulsed----
“Should the Conservatives come in, will they have the wit to offer the
mission here to Hudson? It would do more for them as a party than forty
votes in the House. It would stop at once the lurking suspicion as to
their retrograde tendencies in Italy, on which Palmerston taunted them,
and by which he kept them out of office for years.
“I own I have no confidence in the world-wisdom of Conservatives. They
know the Carlton, and they know, not thoroughly but a good deal of, the
‘House’; but of Englishmen at large and the nation,--of what moderate,
commonplace, fairly educated and hard-headed people say and think,--they
know nothing. But one has only to look at them to see that they
represent idiosyncrasies, not classes. Lytton and Disraeli are only
types of two families.
“How well the Yankees have behaved in this Fenian brawl! Let us not be
slow to acknowledge it. If I were a man in station I would say, now is
the time to pay all Alabama claims, and not higgle whether we owe them
or not. Now is the moment not to be outdone in generosity, but say let
us have done once and for ever with this miserable bickering--let us
criticise each other frankly and fairly, but in the spirit of men who
wish each other well. As for _us_, we want one ally who will really
understand _us_, and if we could once get the Yankee to see that we meant
to be civil to him, we _might_ make a foundation for a friendship that
would serve us in our day of need.
“We are actually deluged now with war correspondents--‘Times,’ ‘Post,’
‘Telegraph,’ ‘D. News,’ &c. By the way, what a series might be made of
M’Caskey’s advices for the war: insolent braggart notices of what was
and what ought to have been done, &c. I thought of it yesterday when I
had a lot of these war Christians at dinner.
“Only think, there is a Queen’s messenger called Nigor Hall (Byng Hall,
or, as the Frenchmen call him, ‘Bunghole’) who, criticising Tony Butler,
said I had made a gross blunder in making him lose his despatches. Now
the same B. H. has just lost the whole Constantinople bag on arriving
at Marseilles, and Louis Nap. is diligently conning over Lyons’ last
missives to F. O. and seeing what game we are ‘trying on’ to detach
Russia from France.
“P.S.--I send an instalment of ‘Sir B.’ and let me have it early, as I
am drawing towards the ‘Tattenham corner of the race.’ I want to see how
it looks. Read it carefully, and give me your shrewdest criticism.
“I have just heard that there is a plot here to carry off Cook’s
excursionists for ransom by the brigands. What a good ‘O’Dowd’ it would
make to warn them!
“The first shot is to be fired by the Italians tomorrow, the anniversary
of ‘St Martin’s,’ which they think they won!”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Villa Morelli, _June_ 28, [1866].
“I begin this at midnight, the first cool moment of the twenty-four
hours, to finish to-morrow some time before post hour. I see that you
have learned our disaster here already--a sore blow, too, to a young
army: but _que voulez-vous?_ La Marmora is an ass, with a small head and
a large face like Packington. You might make a first lord of him,
but never a general. The attack of the first division had never been
intended to do more than draw out the Austrians and encourage the belief
that the _grand_ attack was to follow: meanwhile Cialdini was to have
crossed the Po and moved on Rovigo. The blundering generals made a real
movement of it, and got a real thrashing for their pains. The division
was all but cut to pieces. They fought well--there’s no doubt of it;
they even bore beating, which is more than one would have said of them.
The king was twice surrounded and all but made prisoner, and the princes
behaved splendidly.
“It is a great misfortune that they should have met a repulse at first.
I say this because they _must_ have Venice, and I think the great thing
is that they should have it without French intervention. I hope if the
Conservatives come in that they will see this, and see that Italy
cannot go back without being a French province. If we have a policy
at all,--sometimes I doubt it,--it is to prevent or _delay_ French
aggrandisement. That stupid bosh of volunteer soldiering has so
bemuddled English brains that they fancy we have an army. Why, a
costermonger with his donkey might as well talk of his ‘steed.’ I
wouldn’t say this to a foreigner, nor let them say it to _me_, but it’s
true. If we could patch up the Italian quarrel and get Venice for them,
and arrange an alliance between Italy and Austria, we should do more
than by following the lead of Louis Napoleon and playing ‘cad’ to him
through Europe.
“Are the Derbys really coming in? Who will be F. Secretary? I was going
to say, ‘Who wants me?’
“I was thinking of keeping a running comment on the war in ‘O’Dowd,’
the events jotted as they occurred, with such remarks as suggested
themselves--a hotch-potch of war, morals, politics, &c. What think you?
Of course, with a certain seriousness; it is no joking matter, in any
view one takes of it.
“What a wonderful book ‘Felix Holt’ is! I read much of it twice over,
some of it three times, and throughout there is a restrained power--a
latent heat--far greater than anything developed. She at least suggests
to _me_ that her _dernier mot_ is not there on _anything_. It is not a
pleasant book as to the effect on the mind when finished; but you cannot
forget it, and you cannot take up another after it. It is years since
anything I read has taken the same hold upon me.
“Here has just come news that General Chiera has been shot by
court-martial for treason, having betrayed the Italian plans to the
Austrians. What next? The Neapolitans have earned a dark fame for
themselves in all their late history. I don’t know yet if the story is
authentic.
“I have little confidence in the Tories’ hold of office, and I have less
still that they will do anything for me, though there is scarcely a man
of the Party who has not given me pledges or assurances of remembrance.
“Malmesbury will, I hear, go to Ireland, and he will _do_ there.
There is not a people in the world who can vie with the Irish in their
indifference to _real_ benefits, and their intense delight in _mock_
ones! When will you Saxons learn how to govern Ireland? When you want
a treaty with King Hoolamaldla in Africa, you approach him not with
a tariff and a code of reduced duties, but with strings of beads,
bell-wire, and brass buttons, and why won’t you see that Ireland can be
had by something cheaper than Acts of Parliament!
“And my old friend Whiteside is to [be] Chief-Justice if Baron Lendrick
(I mean Lefroy) will consent to retire! It is a grand comment on our
judicial system, that when a man is too old for public life he is always
young enough for the Bench.
“They once thought of putting me forward for Trinity Col. If I were ten
years younger and ten pounds richer, I’d like to try my chance. I
think I could do the light-comedy line in the House better than Bernai
Osborne, and I’d like to _say_, before I die, some of the things that I
now can only write.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Villa Morelli, Florence, _July_ 2,1866.
“This Italian defeat was even worse than we thought it: the loss of men
was tremendous, and a great number of officers were killed. Of course
there are all sorts of stories of treason, treachery, &c,--nothing
Italian ever happens without these; but I believe the whole mishap was
bad generalship, a rash over-confidence, and a proportionate contempt
for the Austrians, whom they believed to be all inferior troops, the
best being sent to the north under Benedek.
“You are not likely to have any very accurate information in England, as
La Marmora positively refuses to permit newspaper writers to accompany
the army; and Hardman, though known to him, fares no better than the
rest.
“I have learned, from what I know to be a good source of information,
that the French mean to come in at once if the next battle be
unfavourable to the Italians. This is the worst thing that can happen.
It seals the vassalage of this people to France, and places the question
of Rome and the Pope for ever out of Italian hands and in those of their
‘magnanimous ally,’ whom may God confound! Ricasoli sees this plainly
enough; but what can he do, or where turn him for aid?
“And so Lord Stanley’s in F. O.! I suspect he knows very little of the
Continent,--but it matters little. The limits of ‘English policy’ are
fixed by the homilies of the Church, and we are to hope and pray, &c.,
and to get any one who likes it to believe it signifies what we do.
We hear here of a great Prussian victory over Benedek: I hope it’s not
true. These Prussians, in their boastful audacity, coarse pretension,
and vulgar self-sufficiency, are the Yankees of Europe, and, if they
have a success, will be unendurable.
“I am sorry for the fate of the ‘Reform’ O’Dowd. I have begun one about
the war here, and agree with you it is a theme to be _grave_ upon.
Indeed, I think any unseasonable levity would utterly spoil the spirit
of these papers, and being separated, as they are, under various
headings, it is always easy to give the proper tint and colour to each.
“Lowe ought to have the Colonies, not Lytton. _He_ knows the subject
well, and has infinitely more House of Commons stuff in him than the
bewigged old dandy of Knebworth. If Lord Derby gives all the ‘plums’ to
the Tories, the Administration will fall; and Naas, as Irish Secretary,
is another blunder. Where are the ‘_under_’ Sees, to be found? I
fear that the Cabinet, like the army, will be a failure for want of
non-commissioned officers. Serjeant Fitzgerald is not in the House,
and a great loss he is. Gregory would not ill replace him, and the
opportunity to filch votes from the other side by office should not be
lost sight of. It can be done _now_. It will be impossible later on.
“Of all the things the Party want, there is nothing they need like a
press. I think that the advocacy of ‘The Standard’ would actually put
Heaven in jeopardy, and ‘The Herald’ seems a cross between Cassandra and
Moore’s Prophetic Almanac.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Villa Morelli, Florence, _July_ 12, 1866.
“I am rather eagerly--half-impatiently--looking out for O’D. in proof,
and some tidings from yourself in criticism. I have gone over ‘Sir B.,’
and send it off corrected by this post. I more than suspect that I think
it better than you do, or rather, that I think it is better than some
parts you approved more of; but it’s no new error of mine to find good
in things of my writing that nobody but myself has ever discovered. With
respect to the present part, I think probably it is too long for
one paper, and might advantageously stop at chap, xx., leaving the
‘Starlight’ to begin Sept. No.
“If you agree with me, it will save me writing so much in this great
heat (the thermometer is now 94° in my room), and I shall be free to
watch the war notes.
“I want money, but don’t cross your bill to Magnay for two reasons. I
_might_ get better exchange elsewhere; and second, I have overdrawn him
damnably, and he might be indelicate enough to expect payment.
“I hope the Party mean to do somewhat for me. It’s an infernal shame to
see Earle in the list and me--nowhere. For thirty years I have done them
good service in novels and other ways, and they have given me what an
under butler might hesitate over accepting.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Villa Morelli, Florence, _July_ 16, 1866.
“I send you by this post the corrected proof of O’D. and a portion to
add to the war notes. It’s ticklish work prophesying nowadays; but so
far as I can see, the imbroglio with France promises to become serious.
We hear here that a strong fleet is at Toulon ready to sail for the
Adriatic, and coupling this with the flat refusal of the Prince Napoleon
to interfere (he being intensely Italian in his leanings), one may see
that the French policy will not be over regardful of the feelings of
this people. Genoa is being armed in haste, the sea-forts all munitioned
and mounted with heavy guns; and as these cannot be intended against
Austria, it is pretty clear that at last the Italians mean to strike
a _real_ blow for freedom. Spezzia, too, is arming, and the inaction
heretofore observable in the Italian fleet may not improbably be
ascribed to the fact that tougher work is before them than a petty fight
with the Austrian flotilla. The Italians have fourteen ironclads, some
of them really splendid ships, and one, the _Affondatore_, lately built
in England, the equal of almost any afloat. They are well armed and
well manned; and though I don’t think they could _beat_ the French, they
could make a strong fight against the _French Mediterranean squadron_,
and would, I am sure, not bring discredit on their service. I am
sure the ‘country’--I mean the people of England--would go with the
Government that would succour a young nation struggling to assert its
liberty. I do not mean that we should rashly proclaim war, but simply
show that the national sympathy of England was opposed to all coercion
of Italy and averse to seeing the Peninsula a French province. I feel
certain Louis Napoleon would listen to such remonstrances coming from
a _Conservative_ Cabinet, where ‘meddling and muddling’ were not
traditions.
“The Emperor counts so completely on English inaction that the mere show
of a determined policy would arrest his steps. The complexity of the
game increases every hour, and any great battle fought in Germany may
decide the fate of Italy.
“You will see how my first part of O’D. predicted the cession of Venice.
I am rather proud of my foresight.
“There is great dissatisfaction here felt about the inaction of the
Italian fleet. Some allege they want coals, some say courage. I don’t
believe either: I think they were sent off so undisciplined and so
hastily ‘conscripted,’ they are mobs and not crews.
“P. S.--I only wanted to say, not to be afraid of my anti-Napism. I am
sure I have the right measure of the man, and I am sure that when Lord
Palmerston called him ‘a d------d scoundrel,’ he said what Lord Derby
thinks, and what almost every man of the same station in England feels
about him. When the day comes that he will turn upon us, there will be
no surprise felt whatever by the great number of _statesmen_ in England.
“What of my Yankee paper? It was so _well-timed_, I’m sorry it should be
lost.
“What a fiasco the Garibaldians have made of it! They are drunk all day,
and it is next to impossible to get them under fire. Poor old Garibaldi
is half heartbroken at the inglorious ending of his great career, and no
fault of his. For the nation at large it is perhaps the best thing
that could happen. Democracy cannot now go on asserting its monopoly of
courage.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Villa Morelli, Florence, _July_ 18, 1866.
“Our post is so very irregular now that your letter--13th--which should
have been with me yesterday, only reached to-day.
“I don’t think I am wrong as to Louis Nap. The immense preponderance in
Europe that will accrue to Prussia after this war will be heavily felt
by him,--for, after all, he has no other hold on Frenchmen than the
supremacy he has obtained for France on the Continent.
“I am ashamed to find Lord Stanley falling into the Whig cant about our
‘faithful ally,’ &c. Why, the whole world knows that he first traded on
the English alliance, and, once assured of her own safety, has spared no
means to depreciate English power and disparage her influence in Europe.
“Lord Derby spoke more truthfully and more boldly when he disclaimed all
over-close alliance with any nation of Europe, but friendship and good
relations with all. The _point_ of the speech was aimed at France.
“What the French Emperor wanted to do was to employ Plonplon to mediate
between himself and Italy, so that, while seeming to France to be the
Great Disposer of Continental destinies, he should not so far insult
Italy as to stimulate another Orsini. Plonplon refused: he too aspires
to Italian popularity, and is a d------d coward besides. He declined the
Italian commission, and would not leave Paris. The Emperor has scores of
agents here. Pepoli (step-father of the Hohenzollern hospodar) is always
on the watch for him, and keeps him warned, and he has now shown him
the necessity of great caution, so that his next move will be well
considered before taken.
“The Emperor has never outgrown the Carbonari. Talking of outgrowing,
what rot was that of Dizzy’s to say England had outgrown the Continent,
and hence her grand pacific policy, &c, &c.? If so, why at the
instigation of the Continent order 100,000 breechloaders? This was
talk for a few old ladies at a social science tea,--not language to be
listened to by the world at large.
“How much less adroit was Dizzy, too, than Lord Derby at ‘reform.’ The
plain assertion that it was a measure only to be approached after due
and weighty consideration was enough; but Dizzy must go on to say why,
if they should touch it, they were the best of all possible reformers.
The palpable want of tact reveals in this man how the absence of the
true ‘gentleman element’ can spoil a great intellect.
“And, since I sent off my O’D. on ‘The American Alliance,’ I have read
Lord Derby’s speech, full of complimentary things to the Yankees and
plainly indicating the wish to draw closer to them. I think my paper
will be well-timed--that is, if it has reached you, for I despatched it
ten days ago by F. O., and have heard nothing of it since.
“I cannot write to Bulwer, nor indeed to any one, about myself. Three or
four of the present Cabinet know me well enough, and what I’m good for;
and if they do not improve the acquaintance, it is because they don’t
want me.
“I own to you I think it hard--d------d hard; but I have grown so used
to see myself passed by donkeys, that I begin to think it is the natural
thing. If I were not old and pen-weary, with paroxysms of stupidity
recurring oftener than is pleasant, and a growing sense besides that
these disconnected links of muddle-headedness will one day join and
become a chain of downright feebleness,--if not for all this, I say,
‘I’d pitch my blind gods to the devil’ (meaning Ministers and Sees. of
State), and take my stand by the broadsheet, and trust to my head and my
hands to take care of me.
“I like Lord Derby’s allusion to Ireland. Let him only discard the
regular traders on party,--disconnect himself with the clique who, so to
say, farmed out Ireland for the benefit of a party,--and he has a better
chance of _governing the country_--I mean real government--than any of
his predecessors.
“Spenser [‘Fairy Queen’ Spenser) once said, ‘No people love Justice more
than your Irish.’ Probably because it was always a rarity. If Lord D.
will ignore religious differences,--not ask more than each man’s fitness
for office, and appoint him,--he will do much towards breaking down that
terrible barrier that now separates the two creeds in the island.
“It is lucky for you that I’m at the end of my paper, or you were ‘in’
for a ‘sixteenthly.’ But, oh where, and oh where, is my Yankee paper
gone? I want the sheets of ‘Sir B.’ collectively from the part where the
last missive ended. I am re-reading and pondering.
“I half suspect my old friend Whiteside must be in some tiff with the
Cabinet. He has not resigned, and yet men are canvassing for his
seat for the University. It all looks very odd. It may be that he is
bargaining for the Chancellorship, which he is certainly _not_ fit for.
I might as well ask to be Mistress of the Robes,--and old Lefroy will
not resign unless his son be promoted to the Bench! And this is the man
they accuse of senility and weak intellect!
“How like flunkies, after all, are these great gentlemen when it
becomes a question of place. There is a dash of ‘Jeames’ through Cabinet
appointments positively frightful.
“Wasn’t it cunning to send Garibaldi where he could do nothing? It was
the way they muzzle a troublesome man in the House by putting him on a
committee. He (G.) grumbles sorely, says he ought to be in Istria, &c.;
but there is always the _dessous des cartes_ in this war, and France has
had to be consulted or conciliated everywhere.”
_To Dr Burbidge._
“Villa Morelli, _July_ 21, 1866.
“I take shame to myself for not having sooner replied to your kindest of
notes and thanked you for all your trouble at Malta; but first of all I
was obliged to go to Spezzia, and then came the wondrous turn-out of
the Whigs, which has kept me in close correspondence with scores of
people,--no other good result, however, having come of the advent of my
friends to power.
“Malta, at all events, is out of the question; for though they have got
no further than civil messages to me, common report (a common liar, says
Figaro) says that I _ought_ to get something.
“The war absorbs fortunately thoughts that might under other
circumstances have taken a more personal turn, and the war resolves
itself pretty much into what that arch scoundrel, L. N., may do next.
For the moment he is all but stalemated--that is, he can scarcely move
without a check. If he aid Prussia, it will be to strengthen the great
Germany that he dreads, and aggrandise the Power that threatens to be
more than his rival. If he assist Austria, it is to throw off Italy and
undo the past. If he remain neutral, it is to let France subside into
the position of seeing Europe able to do without her.
“The armed intervention which he desired with us and Russia we will have
none of. He is, as Bright said of somebody the other day, ‘a bad fellow
to hunt a tiger with.’
“Now, Prussia was so manifestly in the wrong at first, and had contrived
to be so unpopular with us besides, and Bismarck’s views were so
palpably false and tricky, he could have no sympathy with us at
all,--and yet success (that dear idol of Englishmen) has done fully as
much as the best principles and the purest ambition could, and we are
rapidly becoming Prussian.
“I own that I am extremely Prussian. I see no hope of any barrier
against France but a strong-big-ambitious-non-scrupulous Germany.
“Beer-drinking, stolidity, and the needle-gun will do for the peace
of Europe more than Downing St. and the homilies of the whole Russell
family.
“I have little trust in the F. O. policy of the Conservatives. The
theory is, the Tories love a war; and to controvert this we shall be
driven to bear more insult under a Tory Government than if we had Bright
on the Treasury bench.
“What a fizzle our friends of the Italian fleet present! They said a
few days back that they were in the Tyrol with Garibaldi. He too is not
adding to his fame,--but who is in this war? Not La Marmora certainly.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Croce di Malta, Spezzia, July 28, 1866.
“I am here in the midst of great excitement, the late sea-fight being
to our naval population the most exciting of all topics. If the Admiral
Persano were to venture to land at Genoa at this moment, they would tear
him in pieces. The more generously minded only call him a coward, but
the masses believe him to be a traitor and to have sold the fleet.
This, of course, is the sort of falsehood that could only gain currency
amongst Italians. It is alleged that in changing from the _Re d’Italia_
to the _Affondatore_ his flag was never struck on the former, and
consequently the whole of the Austrian attack was directed to a vessel
where the admiral was supposed to be. As to the _Affondatore_, she was
kept out of the action, some say a mile off,--and the terrific losses
of ships and men were actually incurred by officers being driven to
desperation by the misconduct of their chief.
“The prefect here has just shown me a despatch saying Persano is to be
tried by court-martial, and it will require all the skill of Government
to get him off, and they may seriously endanger the very monarchy (as he
is the personal friend of the king) in the attempt.
“The Austrian artillery went through the iron plating as if it were
two-inch plank, and the Yankee-built ship, the _Re_, was sunk by
shot-holes. The _Affondatore_, too (Blackwall built), was riddled, while
the Italian guns did positively nothing.
“The Italians certainly fought manfully, and, though beaten, were not
dishonoured. As for the Austrians, horrible stories are told of their
shooting,--the men struggling in the water and hacking with their sabres
the poor fellows who clung to the boats. If these stories were not
guaranteed by men of station and character, they would be unworthy of
any credit, but I am driven to believe they are not falsehoods.
“I am here sailing and swimming and laying up a store of health and
strength to carry me on, _Deo volente_, through the hot late summer of
Florence.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Villa Morelli, Florence, _July_ 30, 1866.
“I have got (this moment) yours of the 23rd, and the cheque, for which
I thank you. ‘One way or other,’ as Lord Derby says, I am terribly
crippled for gilt, and the money came most apropos.
“I am glad you like my views in O’D. I feel sure they are correct.
Curiously enough, the O’D. will just fit in with the sentiments declared
by Lord Derby, both regarding America and Europe. It is very hard to
write patiently of the Italians just now, their exigence rising with
every new success of Prussia, totally forgetful of the fact that to the
Alliance they have brought nothing as yet but discomfiture and defeat.
Every charge of a Prussian squadron raises their demands, and every
Prussian bulletin enlarges their cries for more frontier! What a people!
and yet one must not say _a word_ of this; one must back them up and
wish God-speed and the rest of it, for there is a worse thing, after
all, than a bumptious Italy,--an insolent and aggressive France.
“Garibaldi is at his wits’ end with the scoundrels they have given him
to command. About eighty per cent of them should be at the galley. He is
ready to throw up his command any day, and nothing but urgent entreaty
induces him to remain.
“There will be great difficulty in getting the Italians to accept a
reasonable amount of territory with Venice. They always regard whatever
is given generously as something far below their just claim; and if you
want to make an Italian cabman miserable, pay him double and be civil at
parting, and he will go off with the affecting impression that he _might
have_ had _five_ times as much out of you if he had only stood to it. I
know them well: they are d------d bad Irish--Irish minus all generosity
and all gratitude.
“I have come back in great mind after a week’s swimming. I believe if I
could live at Spezzia I might rival Methuselah.”
_To Mr John Blackwood._
“Villa Morelli, Florence, _Aug_. 13, 1866.
“I was very glad to see the part which I now return corrected, fearing
that some mischance had befallen it. I hope you like it: I am eager to
hear what your impression of the whole tale is on looking back over it.
“If I thought it was of the least consequence to you I would not dun
you, but I want money. I am in a difficulty about a large--that is, for
me, a large--bill due on the 25th, the last of those debts I once told
you of, and with this I end them.
“I am writing hard at ‘Sir B.,’ and hope the ending will come right. My
home advisers say ‘Yes.’
“The character of Mrs Sewell was a great difficulty--that is, the
attempt to show how mere gracefulness could appear something better, and
that a woman might be as depraved as a man without forfeiting to a great
extent our sympathy and even something stronger.
“Have I succeeded? I don’t know, nor do I know if any one will take the
trouble to see what I have aimed at.
“I wrote this epigram on the loss of the _Affondatore_, and it has some
vogue here:--
“Al Affondatore.
“Ta meritai bene il tuo nome strano,
Se non i nemici: Affondersi Pereano.