Frankfort
29 May 1848
Dear Henry
I have not had much time to write lately for we have a good deal to do – The Diet <1> is all but defunct & I have more to say to it than ever I had. The Assembly is in train & will begin its really constitutional discussions soon. Hitherto they have been taken up with preliminaries. They have a good Speaker, who keeps order firmly, & wards off irrelevant propositions. But they have got rid of one good rule already viz the speaking only 10 minutes each. There are many sections & Club[s] There is a Catholic Party, an ultraliberal Party, a moderate Conservative, a Republican &c There is also a considerable aristocratic Club forming.
If I can get you any seeds I will send them but it is not very likely now. Orobus formosus & O. Smouthii are in fine flower they are very distinct.
Magnolia gigantea has flowered, it may be a fine tree but I prefer macrophylla. Peonia Witmanni is a humbug some of the P. sinensis are yellower I never saw Aristolochia Sipho flower before – or a yellow trumpet honeysuckle. Quercus lanuginosa seems forming acorns.
I do not expect to stay here very long – nor do I regret it. I hope the Mt Es <2> will take care of themselves, the Trahernes <3> have been most prudent in coming home betimes. I wish Jane <4> & family were safe.
We are annoyed at the Danish war, <5> it is such nonsense & ought to be stopped by force. I wonder if the German debates will be reported in our papers.
Martius <6> has sent me the remainder of his catalogue of American books – I wish some great Library would buy them. I was in hopes he would be elected <7> as well as Sudlicher.
Yr affte
W F S
Notes:
1. The German Diet, though not dissolved, was superseded by an assembly of German and Austrian deputies [see Doc. No: 06137] which met at Frankfurt on 18 May 1848 to discuss constitutional questions. [See Encycl. Brit.]. Many of the deputies were academics without political experience.
2. Ernest Augustus Edgcumbe, Lord Valletort, 3rd Earl of Mt Edgcumbe (1797–1861), WHFT’s brother-in-law and family.
3. Charlotte Louisa 'Charry' Traherne, née Talbot (1800–1880), WHFT’s cousin and her husband.
4. Jane Harriot Nicholl, née Talbot (1796–1874).
5. Prussian troops invaded the Danish duchy of Holstein in April 1848. See Encycl. Brit. under the ‹Schleswig-Holstein Question’. Britain supported Denmark.
6. Dr Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius (1794–1868), German botanist. See again Doc. No: 06137.
7. To the parliamentary assembly.
8. The former genus Orobus has now been divided between Lathyrus and Vicia.