Transcription
Copy of Uncle Washington’s letter /
Madrid, June 21st 1843 /
My dear sister /
I have again to thank you for the kind and cheering / letters full of precious home details. I am sorry I can make but / such poor return, but though my malady has ceased in its / virulence I find writing still irksome to me and indeed / am prohibited by my physician from indulging in it. It is a great privation and reduces me to a state of idleness foreign / to my habits and inclinations. The doctor would also, if he could, / put a stop to my almost incessant reading as he thinks that any / fixed attention for a length of time wearies the brain and in some degrees / produces those effects on the system which originated my complaint: but / I cannot give up reading in my eartherwise otherwise listless state. He / has been very urgent for me to travel, not merely for a change of air, but because / the succession of Scenes; incidents amuses without fatiguing the mind / and this operates healthfully upon the system. I have been recovering so much of late, however, that I hope to be able to dispense with this part of his / advice, and to continue at my post. I should be loth (sic) to leave it in the present / critical state of the Country; when insurrections are breaking out in various parts of / the Kingdom and Spain threatened with civil war. My illness has / prevented me from giving you a detail of the political events of the country / which has of late assumed an alarming aspect. A coalition of various factions (opposite in their views and doctrines and no one of them of sufficient magnitude / to form a majority) has united in a vehement attempt to pull down / the Regent and an end to the existing government. Fr (sic) this purpose insur- / rections have been stirred up in various parts of the country and latterly in / Barcelona, that old seat of rebellion. To day, the Regent sallies forth from / the capital to put himself once more at the head of his troops an endeavor / to quell these insurrections. I heartily pray for his success for should he fail, / and should he be ejected from power, a fearful state of anarchy would / ensue. The very coalition now combined against him would break into / warring factions, each striving for the ascendency, and we might have / civil war of the worst kind. I have just returned from attending a / levee held by the Regent at 12 oclock; preparatory to his departure, he made a frank and manly address to the diplomatic corps; declaring his disposition to cultivate cordial relations with all countries but particularly with those / who have representations at this court and who recognized the Constitution / of Spain, the throne of Isabella II and his Regency. His loyal devotion to / the constitution and the throne and his sole and uniform ambition to place / the reins of government in the hands of the youthful queen on the 10 of October / 1844 when she should have completed her minority; and to place under her / command a peaceful prosperous and happy country; but he expressed at / the same time his determination to resist every attempt to throw the country / into a state of anarchy; and to defend the throne of Isabella and the / constitution of 1837 like a good soldier. At four oclock a general review /”
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“of the national militia takes place in the Prado, as on a former occasion, /when the Regent, as before, will no doubt, make a speech confiding the / safety of the city and the youthful queen and her sister to their patriotism / and loyalty. At 5 oclock he takes his departure. I cannot but feel that he / sallies forth this time with much more doubtful prospects than in his former / expedition against Barcelona. The spirit of rebellion is more widely diffused, / and is braking (sic) forth at various points. A few days, or in a very few weeks, at / farthest, will decide his fate, and determine whether he is to maintain his post / and keep up some form of government for the remainder of the minority of the queen / (about 15 months and ½) or whether his power, if not himself, is to be annihilated and / everything for a time thrown into chaos. In these critical times, when every thing / threatens a tempest, I feel more and more solicitude about the little Queen, whose / fortunes are so much at the mercy of events. I lately had a most interesting conversation / about her with her guardian the good Arguelles. He speaks English very fluently, / though with something of an accent, and always mentions the little Queen and her / sister as “thece two yong ladies” giving a sharp sound to the S as if were a C, according / to this account every hour of their time is most profitably employed in the study of languages, / of history, geography, mathematics, and the acquisition of various accomplishments. He / extolls the amiable disposition of the little Queen, the total absence of all pretension or superiority / in her intercourse, not merely with her sister, but with some of the young people, (daughters of / the Camaristas and others of the household, who occasionally join in her amusements. He dwelt / on the charitable disposition of the queen & her sister, their monthly allowance for spending / money, instead of being laid out in finery, or playthings, is devoted to private charities. When they / walk out petitions are often presented to them and applications made for relief. They take notice of all these / and cause them to be enquired into - Once a month they have their settling day: when like two little women of business, all these claims are canvassed!:they look personally into each case; decide on its / merits, and determine what sum shall be disposed to the applicant. I am told it is quite interesting / and touching to see the manner in which they acquit themselves on this occasion. Since my partial recovery I have seen the little queen two or three times in public. She has grown very / much of late and really begins to look somewhat womanly. I am told her opening of the last Cortes / when she went in state passed up through the center of the senate chamber, escorted by / the Regent, her train born (sic) by ladies in waiting, and took her seat alone on the throne, was quite / charming. It was observed that her eyes were / continually turning to a Tribune on one side of the Senate Hall in which was seated her little sister; it was the only time they had ever been / separated - On Sunday evening last I attended the soiree held weekly at the Regents (sic) / It was the only one I have been able to attend for upwards of four months, and I was anxious to / go to it, as it would be the last before the departure of the Regent. It was thinly attended / and I remarked a general gloom on the faces of those attached to the Regent, or whose interests / were connected with his fortunes. The Regent did not appear being engaged in a cabinet / council. The Duchess was pale, and had a dejected air, complaining of head ache. I rather fear / it was heart ache, for she feels their hazardous position and the pitfalls which surround / them, She is an amiable and a lovely woman, and her dejected air {crossed out illegible words} rather heightened her / beauty in my eyes. I had not seen her since my illness and I had to thank her for sending / kind enquiries she had made after my health, sending one of the Dukes (sic) /Aid de Camp / for the purpose. It will be a joyful hour for her I am convinced when the Duke lays down his / Regency and returns to quiet and serenity of private life. It is said she will accompany the / Duke on his present expedition, rather than remain alone in the Magnificent palace of / Buena Vista, exposed to the vicissitude and hazard of this critical juncture. Certainly if any evil / should befall the Duke in his expedition her situation here would be painful and precarious. I have / not been able to ascertain however whether she accompanies him or not. I doubt whether she will / go immediately. She may rejoin him some days hence. I have scrawled a longer letter than I have any / idea of accomplishing and must conclude. Tell Eliza Romey, Sarah Irving, tc. Tc. That I have received / their letters giving me most acceptable cottage news and beg them to write on, without / waiting for replies. I cannot write letters at present – Instead I must not. Every thing / concerning dear little Sunnyside is interesting to me. My heart dwells on that blessed / little Spot, and I really believe that when I die I shall haunt it but it will be as a /good spirit, that no one need be afraid of. Though I cannot enjoy its delights in person / at present, I enjoy them at second hand, by the accounts given by others. When I think / of America my thoughts all center there and I believe that even though exiled / from it, a great portion of my actual enjoyment in life is hearing and thinking about / about it, picturing it in my thoughts, dreaming about it and flattering myself / with the hope that I shall return and end my days there. Thank God it is a happy home for my dear brother and his family. /
Ever my dear sister /
Most affectionately your brother /
Washington Irving
