Sunday 16 Jany <1>
My dearest H.
I have seen & talked to Henri Blumenthal <2>, & think he would suit you very well – He is now with Mrs Canning <3>, but she will be going away before you come – Let me know if you like the thoughts of him – & I will see him again, & settle something – Giovanni <4> is still without a place & does not seem to take much pains to get one – He is very civil & attentive, & has just now poor Fellow a very bad cold. Baptiste <5> is bound by every obligation moral & pecuniary to remain with Mad: de Ségur <6> – I have found a Man who promises well, but as he has been here only one day I have as yet only Hopes – This Indemnity which was to “fermer les derniers plaies” <7> of the Revolution <8> – as [sic] had an exactly opposite effect, & people of all sorts are quarrelling in all parts of the Town <9> – The number of curious cases which arise & claims which are put in is quite curious – An Émigré having lost only Funded property is to receive nothing tho’ he may have lost a leg in the Army of Condé <10> while another a Landholder is to be indemnified though he may have fought against that very army; the D. of Orleans <11> for instance who commanded a Regiment at the Battle of Jemappes <12>. [illegible] those holders of Emigrant property, who on the return of the King made an arrangement as it is called, in other words bought any the chance, or any claim that the Emigrant might in justice [illegible] have to the Property – say they stand in the shoes of the former owner & have a right to whatever share would [illegible deletion] devolves to him – Those who have most think they have nothing unless they get all – on dit <13> that one of them said “je ne serai pas content si on ne me rend pas les vingt cinq meilleures années de ma vie –” <14> In short those who receive are not satisfied & those who pay are of course not in good humour – M. de Villele <15> has had the mal addresse <16> to mix up the law of Finance about lowering the Interest, with the [illegible]<17> with which it has in fact nothing to do & so they mutually unpopularize each other – it is by no means certain they will either of them pass. I have nearly made up my mind to go over with Stuart Wortley <18> on the 2d Feby, & think I shall then very likely meet you in Town – I shall stay a week or ten days – I wish Kit <19> wd stir himself in right earnest, & come in himself for the County & bring you in for the Borough –
W. Henry Fox Talbot Esqr
Bowood
Calne
Notes:
1. This letter was attached together with Doc. No: 04634.
2. See Doc. No: 04690.
3. Probably related to George Canning (1770–1827), statesman.
4. Giovanni Percij.
5. A servant. [See Doc. No: 00245].
6. See Doc. No: 00245.
7. Close up the last wounds.
8. Probably the French Revolution
9. Paris.
10. Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé (1736 – 1818), commander of the Army of Condé.
11. Louis-Philippe of France, Duke of Orleans (1773–1850), King of the French (1830–1848), son of Philippe ‘Egalité’ and friend of Dumouriez commander of the French army at Jemappes.
12. French victory over the Austrians (1792).
13. They say.
14. I shall not be content unless they give me back the 25 best years of my life.
15. Jean Baptiste Guillaume Marie Anne Séraphin, Comte de Villèle (1773 – 1854), far– right prime minister of France from 1822 to 1827. The indemnification proposals of 1825 along with strict press laws were strongly opposed by the French people.
16. Incompetence.
17. Seal damage.
18. Probably John Stuart-Wortley, 2nd Baron Wharncliffe (1801–1855), politician & photographer or James Archibald Stuart Wortley, 1st Baron Wharncliffe (1776–1845).
19. Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot (1803–1890), immensely wealthy landowner, mathematician & politician; WHFT’s Welsh cousin.