3985. Robert Southey to Humphrey Senhouse, 21 March 1823

 

Address: To/ Humphrey Senhouse Esqre/ Netherhall/ Maryport
Stamped: KESWICK/ 298
Seal: red wax
MS: Department of Rare Books, Special Collections and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester, Robert Southey Papers A.S727. ALS; 3p.
Unpublished.

Keswick 21 March. 1823
My dear Senhouse

My movements can not take place so soon as I wished, – partly because my work

(1)

Southey’s The Book of the Church (1824).

has grown under my hands, & partly because it has been delayed by other avocations. I cannot set forth before the month of May,

(2)

Southey did not leave Keswick until 3 November 1823.

& must proceed more rapidly than usual with my employments to be ready by that time. This is vexatious on many accounts. It would have been very pleasant to me to have travelled with you, – & very desirable for me to have returned to this country before the summer commences. – I hope you will halt with us by the way.

The Pyrenean part of your journey must of course be given up, till a more convenient season; – which I shall not be sorry for, if it allows me an opportunity of joining you in it two or three years hence. I am not apprehensive that we shall be drawn into a war, – the Cortes will most probably render that impossible by their own violence.

(3)

A military revolt in Spain in 1820 had restored the liberal Constitution of 1812. But on 7 April 1823, French forces invaded Spain in order to restore royal absolutism.

– Yesterday I had a letter from Blanco, & you may like to see his opinion upon the state of things in his own country. He says “the prospects of Spain are, to me, more gloomy than ever. The invasion is unjustifiable, while the Constitution against which it is directed, is not capable of defence. There is nothing to stop the French army, if the soldiers do not mutiny against their leaders. But what can prevent the Radical government from supporting a civil war, till every source of wealth is destroyed, & the whole country reduced to a state not unlike that of the neighbouring Africans? As to the Army of the Faith,

(4)

A group of supporters of royal absolutism. They had staged a number of unsuccessful risings in 1822 and fought alongside the French invaders in 1823.

& its vanguard of Priests & Monks, it can bring nothing but darkness & desolation in its train. So, Heaven have mercy on poor Spain!”

The difficulty is, not in establishing a better Government at Madrid, but in giving it effect, & in supporting it, – for it will be absolutely without resources. The Cortes has only been supported for the last two years by the loans which it raised here.

(5)

In 1820–1821, the Spanish government had raised two loans through the Paris firm of Ardouin, Hubbard & Co. and a further ‘National’ loan from Spanish citizens.

As for the interference of France, if it could be effectual, it would be perfectly justifiable; – this is one of those cases in which what is expedient is right. But I doubt the expediency.

Remember us to your household, – & let me know when we may expect you.

God bless you
Yours affectionately 
Robert Southey.

Notes

1. Southey’s The Book of the Church (1824).[back]
2. Southey did not leave Keswick until 3 November 1823.[back]
3. A military revolt in Spain in 1820 had restored the liberal Constitution of 1812. But on 7 April 1823, French forces invaded Spain in order to restore royal absolutism.[back]
4. A group of supporters of royal absolutism. They had staged a number of unsuccessful risings in 1822 and fought alongside the French invaders in 1823.[back]
5. In 1820–1821, the Spanish government had raised two loans through the Paris firm of Ardouin, Hubbard & Co. and a further ‘National’ loan from Spanish citizens.[back]
TEI Link
TEI
Volume Editor(s)
Lynda Pratt
Ian Packer