“I have been working hard upon a paper on French affairs, which I shall finish to-morrow. A pamphlet by Prince Polignac furnishes the text and much of the matter for it. This was sent me by Sir Robert Adair, who is his particular friend, and I have since, through the same channel, had a letter from the poor prisoner himself.* Adair has also sent me a curious pamphlet, written to vindicate the Belgian revolution from the disgrace of having anything in common with the last French one.
“It is very difficult to foresee anything in the present state of Europe. Nothing could have seemed more improbable than the preservation of peace thus long. If it be still preserved, the struggle between the Government and the Chamber will go on till the nation distinctly see that it is, in fact, a question whether there is to be any government or none; and then the least unlikely termination would be, that Soult would enact the part of Monk, and Louis Philippe make a merit of having acted as king, in order to preserve the monarchy till he could safely transfer it to the legitimate prince. To this, or to another military despotism, it must come.
“Last night we had the M. of Hastings here, who voted with the Ministry, and now apprehends
* See Appendix. |
| 198 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 58. |
“Oddly enough, while American notions of government are obtaining ground in Europe, the United States themselves seem likely to be disunited, and give practical proof of the instability of any such system. No doubt our West Indian planters would call upon America to receive them into the union, and be received accordingly, if the slave question were not likely to be the cause of quarrel between the southern states and the Congress. Most likely I shall write a paper upon this question for the Christmas number. From the way in which the emancipators on the one hand, and the colonial assemblies on the other, are proceeding, we shall soon have those islands in the condition of St. Domingo. . . . .
“Murray has
published a letter to himself
by Lord Nugent, which letter abuses me by
name, à-la-William Smith. It has been
published more than a fortnight, and he has never sent it me, nor do I know
anything of it, except at second hand from a newspaper. If I should think it
worth while to take any notice of this attack, it will be very briefly, and
| Ætat. 58. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 199 |
“God bless you!
