Transcription
Madrid Wednesday October 25h 1843
My dear Papa :
I had delayed writing my last letter by the / steamer of Nov 4th in the hope of acknowledging to day your / letters to the 1st Oct’r; but a storm in the Channel has intercepted / the London mail of the 17th and with them [^ it] in all probability / the letters by the Caledonia _ I have thus a great pleasure in / store for tomorrow or the day after.
I am continuing to lead the same uniform, quiet / life which commenced with the departure for Mr. Irving, now / nearly two months since : The business of the legation is / almost nil; no despatches arrive from Washington; where Spa: / :nish revolutions excite little interest or sympathy; and as there / is a calm in affairs here at present I do not trouble them at / home with [^ the] conjectures + flying reports which follow each other / every half hour; equally unimportant and unfounded _ Under / these circumstances I can devote myself almost entirely to my / own studies and pursuits : I have a spanish master with / whom I laugh over my old friend Don Quixote, and whom (being / also a classical scholar) I can consult on the doubtful / passages of Horace : With these and that noble science which /
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Hooker praises so highly I occupy my hours at home until I / dine at six; and after [^ dinner] being then somewhat tired of my own com: / :pany, spend the Evening at the Opera, where I meet my diplomatic / colleagues and find [^ hear] tolerably good music _ This is the general outline / of each and every day varied occasionally by official dinners + / visits.
My health has been improving since my return and / my friends congratulate m generally on my appearance _ living and / dining alone, one is not tempted to indulge in the good things of life, / with a cellar well stocked, I rarely drink wine at home, and can / thus get through the important event of the day in 15 or 20 minutes / thereby saving much time and discomfort _ I confess this mode of / life, is not altogether to my taste and would become irksome in / a few months more _ Mr. Irving is such excellent company that / you are independent of other resources and his absence made a / gap which here beyond all other places it is difficult to fill _ / This morning I rec’d a letter from Jasper Livingston at Bayonna; / who [^ he] will be here in two or three days and as he is attached to the / legation, gentlemanlike, well informed, and the only “compatriote” within / 300 miles, I suppose we shall see a good deal of each other.
I have no letters from Paris lately : at the last / accounts Uncle Geoffrey was confined to the house, or at all events could / only drive out, and was living perdu with in the little apartment / in the rue de la Victories, seeing nobody except a few Americans : / He has placed himself under the best medical advice, and I hope /
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will remain quietly where he is until an established cure has been / effected :
The insurrection against the Provisional Government is confined / chiefly to the three principal cities where it broke out several weeks since / viz. Barcelona , Saragossa, + Gerona : Prim the commanding officer of the / government has assaulted this last town, which has been always remar: / :kable for its defences, without success : at the last advices a truce had been / agreed upon between him and the leader of the rebels, in order than an / envoy from the latter should visit Barcelona, and other parts of Catalonia / and report to his friends the true condition of the province : neither at / Saragossa nor Barcelona has an general attack been made tho reinforce: / :ments are constantly arriving to the besieging forces : The reports in regard / to the situation of these two cities are very various : the government papers / represent them as being under the dominion of mobs and the lowest classes, / and given up to pillage and disorder, while other statements announce / that order is tolerably well preserved; that they are well supplied with / arms + money, especially in Barcelona where there is a mint, and the / Junta are said to be coining 100.000 dollars in a week : this last / circumstance would tend to prolong the defence, as it is notorious that / the members of these revolutionary committees generally avail themselves / of the confusion and their “little brief authority” to fill their pockets / trusting either to make their peace or their escape when the row is / over : The legislative bodies are meanwhile, proceeding with the examina: / :tion of “las actas” or the certificates of elections : as soon as they are con: / stituted, the important question of the Queen’s majority will be taken up, / and intrigues on this point [^ are carried on] with all of Spanish activity, which / unfortunately for the Country, in this way alone, is ever exhibited :
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There is already a marked division as to the mode of adopting / the measure : one party, the Moderados, wishing that the Gov’t / should declare the Queen of age, without consulting the Cortes, and / as one of the consequences of the late revolution; the other in favor / of a discussion and declaration by the legislature as giving the / act something of the sanction of constitutional forms. All is doubt / and uncertainty, and he is a bold man who ventures to predict the / events of the coming week : To shew the [^ feeling of] insecurity of the present ?etter [^ rulers] / and that theirs is by no means a lady bed of roses I will mention a / little incident of last Evening : There was a dull & tedious dinner at the / Dutch Minister’s given to the “chefs de mission” at which the Spanish / Secretary of State was present : about 8 a thunder storm came up, while / we were at table with a heavy clap which sounded like cannon or the / explosion of a month ago : my eyes happened to be turned towards the / Secretary and I have rarely seen such an expression of horror as appeared / upon his face : his mouth opened as if he would have swallowed the stout / dutchman at his side, and he stared vacantly round during the few / moments of silence which followed; fortunately another peal soon / came to interrupt this fine stage effect, and prove that the disturb - / :bance was not at all events upon the solid earth _ There has been / an abundance of evidence to ?? [^ shew] that their official existence during / the last three months has been a continual state of alarm; and there / are the posts, in which it appears they can neither benefit their [amity?] / not themselves, they [^ hundreds] are plotting and intriguing to obtain!
Goodbye. I send a thousand kisses to Mama and the Girls / who are enjoying, I hope, this glorious season at Nevis, as much as / any of the former. Your affectionate son: /
Alex: Hamilton.Transcriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
English
