4181. Robert Southey to John Rickman, 3 May [1824]

 

Address: To/ J Rickman Esqre 
MS: Huntington Library, RS 450. ALS; 3p.
Unpublished.
Dating note: dating from content.

My dear R.

Turner I think has not noticed an ugly custom of the Anglo Saxons, – which I find in the Saxon Chronicle, – that of sometimes burning their prisoners alive.

(1)

James Ingram (1774–1850; DNB), The Saxon Chronicle, with an English Translation and Notes, Critical and Explanatory. To which are added Chronological, Topographical and Glossarial Indices; a Short Grammar of the Anglo-Saxon Language; a New Map of England During the Heptarchy; Plates of Coins etc (London, 1823), p. 58. Southey possessed two copies, nos 2593 and 2594 in the sale catalogue of his library. This information was not in Sharon Turner, The History of the Anglo-Saxons from their First Appearance above the Elbe to the Death of Egbert (1820). Southey possessed a second edition of this wo…

– The same thing was done in France, as late as the end of the 14th century. – In all ages generosity seems sometimes to have been displayed in war, but Marlborough

(2)

John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough (1650–1722; DNB), the British commander in the War of the Spanish Succession.

seems to have th been the first General who introduced any thing like humanity.

I am more than half inclined to write a view of our civil history, – upon such a scale & plan as that of which I have given of the Church;

(3)

Southey’s The Book of the Church (1824). He did not write a book on Britain’s ‘civil history’.

with the special object of tracing the changes in the state of society, & setting in a right point of view some things which are grossly & mischievously misrepresented.

Bertha writes in good spirits, full of your kindness, & of the wonders she has seen.

Thank you for the Demarara trial.

(4)

John Smith (1790–1824; DNB) was sent to Demerara by the London Missionary Society and preached mainly to African slaves. Following the Demerara rebellion of 1823, he was tried before a court-martial in the colony and accused of fomenting discontent among local slaves. Smith was found guilty and sentenced to death. His death in prison in February 1824 produced an uproar in Britain. Southey had asked Rickman to provide him with ‘Papers Relating to Proceedings of Court Martial on Trial of J. Smith, Missionary, in the Colony of Demerara, October 1823’ (1824), which Parliament had ordered to be pri…

Can you send me the Reports upon our Artisans & Manufactures?

(5)

Reports of Minutes of Evidence from the Select Committee on Artisans and Machinery (1824).

– I much regret that we did not find Morrison

(6)

James Morrison (1789–1857; DNB), an immensely wealthy businessman. His main business at this time was a general drapery firm in Fore Street, City of London. Southey had met him in the Lake District in September 1823.

when we went to look for him in Fore Street. It is plain that a great change in the whole system of trade is being brought about – by the employment of large capitals, & I should very much have liked to have seen what the effect is in one po branch. Morrison considers the breaking up of all the small tradesmen as inevitable, & as an evil. Eventual evil I do not see, as such persons would still be employed as agents, & make the same sort of livelihood, without risk. – But these [MS obscured] wide subjects. Political economy indeed [MS obscured] metaphysics in more than one respect; – & in none more than this, that who profess to understand it best are generally arrant humbugs.

God bless you
RS.

May 3d.

Notes

1. James Ingram (1774–1850; DNB), The Saxon Chronicle, with an English Translation and Notes, Critical and Explanatory. To which are added Chronological, Topographical and Glossarial Indices; a Short Grammar of the Anglo-Saxon Language; a New Map of England During the Heptarchy; Plates of Coins etc (London, 1823), p. 58. Southey possessed two copies, nos 2593 and 2594 in the sale catalogue of his library. This information was not in Sharon Turner, The History of the Anglo-Saxons from their First Appearance above the Elbe to the Death of Egbert (1820). Southey possessed a second edition of this work from 1807, no. 2876 in the sale catalogue of his library.[back]
2. John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough (1650–1722; DNB), the British commander in the War of the Spanish Succession.[back]
3. Southey’s The Book of the Church (1824). He did not write a book on Britain’s ‘civil history’.[back]
4. John Smith (1790–1824; DNB) was sent to Demerara by the London Missionary Society and preached mainly to African slaves. Following the Demerara rebellion of 1823, he was tried before a court-martial in the colony and accused of fomenting discontent among local slaves. Smith was found guilty and sentenced to death. His death in prison in February 1824 produced an uproar in Britain. Southey had asked Rickman to provide him with ‘Papers Relating to Proceedings of Court Martial on Trial of J. Smith, Missionary, in the Colony of Demerara, October 1823’ (1824), which Parliament had ordered to be printed.[back]
5. Reports of Minutes of Evidence from the Select Committee on Artisans and Machinery (1824).[back]
6. James Morrison (1789–1857; DNB), an immensely wealthy businessman. His main business at this time was a general drapery firm in Fore Street, City of London. Southey had met him in the Lake District in September 1823.[back]
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