Letter from William Henry Seward to Frances Miller Seward, July 27, 1859

  • Posted on: 7 December 2021
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Letter from William Henry Seward to Frances Miller Seward, July 27, 1859
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transcriber

Transcriber:spp:cms

student editor

Transcriber:spp:tml

Distributor:Seward Family Digital Archive

Institution:University of Rochester

Repository:Rare Books and Special Collections

Date:1859-07-27

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Letter from William Henry Seward to Frances Miller Seward, July 27, 1859

action: sent

sender: William Seward
Birth: 1801-05-16  Death: 1872-10-10

location: Paris, France

receiver: Frances Seward
Birth: 1805-09-24  Death: 1865-06-21

location: Auburn, NY

transcription: cms 

revision: vxa 2021-03-06

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Page 1

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Editorial Note

William Henry Seward's series of travel letters in 1859 are organized and listed by the date of each entry.
Paris July 27. 1859
My dearest Frances,
I have little to add to my diary of
yesterday. The evening was given up to a reunion of
what the French call Beaux Esprits at the home of Dr
Castle
Birth: 1831 Death: 1885-12-09
a savan and writer in the department of Suzerainty.
His wife
 Death: 1912-12-04
and sister
Unknown
played exquisitely on the piano, the two on one
instrument at thea time - I met there Madame Ristori
Birth: 1822-01-29 Death: 1906-10-09
who is now
held the greatest actorress in Europe - I reserved my judgement for trial
before surrendering my partiality for Charlotte Cushman
Birth: 1816-07-23 Death: 1876-02-18
- Ristori (as they
call her here) is an Italian lady very handsome and intellectual
She goes soon to the United States. I cannot recall now the
names of the literati and artists whom I met at Dr
Castles Among them was an Editor
Birth: 1799 Death: 1868
of the Le Siecle, the only
Republican newspaper here. I shall see more of them
To day I have missed the visit of the Secretary
for foreign affairs
Birth: 1802-11-18 Death: 1870-10-29
(or of State) but have
had the pleasure of seeing Fanny
Kemble
Birth: 1809-11-27 Death: 1893-01-15
who stops at this
Hotel and of Jerome
Bonaparte
Birth: 1784-11-15 Death: 1860-06-24
who
is nearby here
to see the
Emperor
Birth: 1808-04-20 Death: 1873-01-09

Page 2

20
France reveals the activity of several contradictory
forces. 1st. that of the Ancient Regime or the
of the party of the Legitimate Bourbons. 2d that
of the Orleanists or cadet Bourbons. 3d. that
of the Bonapartists or the Emperor, a military
despotism 4th that of the Republic. Each
party seems intent on gaining complete authority
the establishment of its own principles to the
exclusion of all others. The forces are
of such relative strength that it is apparent
that each is fighting for practical an
impossibility. But the temporary success
of one excites such opposition as to bring
into measured cooperation all the others,
and in the end sooner or later one of them
becomes for a time ascendant, by the
means of a revolution in the state more or
less sanguinary, but only to give place in
its time to some one of the others. Which
will ultimately prevail and how soon?
That is what I am studying.