link to Talbot Project home page link to De Montfort University home page link to Glasgow University home page
Project Director: Professor Larry J Schaaf
 

Back to the letter search >

Result number 159 of 400:   < Back     Back to results list   Next >  

Document number: 6101
Date: 05 Feb 1848
Dating: corrected from 6th
Recipient: TALBOT William Henry Fox
Author: EDGCUMBE Caroline Augusta, née Feilding
Collection: British Library, London, Manuscripts - Fox Talbot Collection
Last updated: 29th June 2016

Palazzo Butera
Palermo
Feby 6th 5th 1848

My dearest Henry

One line per Bulldog <1> to say we are all safe again in our own house on shore. The Revolution <2> came to an end yesterday, in the most satisfactory manner. Everything had already fallen into the power of the Sicilians, & every fresh Neapolitan War Steamer brought new concessions from the King, <3> but not sufficient to satisfy the people, who rejected them with scorn – as only shewing the King’s fears & weakness. Yesterday the fort was attacked on two sides – & the cannonading on all hands was magnificent – In the middle of the fight, an order from the King arrived to Surrender the Citadel as it stood, without dismantling, wh was what the people had previously demanded – miserable king! This was accordingly done, & peace re-established – & we all landed, having lived exactly 3 weeks on board – Today we attended the Te Deum <4> in the Cathedral – a most interesting & exciting sight – All the Chiefs & restored prisoners vehemently cheered – So were we – they are so grateful to Ld Mt E. <5> & the 2 English Captains for what they have done – & viva Sa Rosalia, viva l’Inghilterra, resounded on all sides – Goodbye – this goes by the Bulldog to Naples – let Aunts’ [sic] Louisa & Matilda <6> know we are all safe & well – the egl english are so popular –

Yr very affte Sister
Caroline

All the troops embarked for Naples today. –

Notes:

1. HMS Bulldog . [See Doc. No: 06087].

2. Beginning in January 1848, in Palermo, Sicily, against the absolutist King Ferdinand II.

3. King Ferdinand II (1810–1859), King of the Two Sicilies; nick-named “King Bomba”, after his preferred method of ruthlessly suppressing insurrections.

4. An abbreviated title given to the original Latin text and the translations of a hymn, with the opening words, ‘Te Deum Laudamus’.

5. Her husband, Ernest Augustus Edgcumbe, Lord Valletort, 3rd Earl of Mt Edgcumbe (1797–1861). For an account of the episode, see his Extracts from a journal kept during the commencement of the Revolution at Palermo, in the year 1848, second edition (London: James Ridgway, 1850), p. 30.

6. Louisa Emma Petty Fitzmaurice, née Fox Strangways, Marchioness of Lansdowne (1785-1851), wife of Henry Petty Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne; Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Victoria, 1837-1838; WHFT's aunt; and Matilda Feilding (1775-1849), WHFT's 'aunt' - sister of Charles Feilding, his stepfather.

Result number 159 of 400:   < Back     Back to results list   Next >