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Bodleian Library, MS Eng. Lett. c. 22. Previously published: Kenneth Curry (ed.), New Letters of Robert Southey, 2 vols (London and New York, 1965), I, pp. 70–74.
These letters were edited with the assistance of Carol Bolton, Tim Fulford and Ian Packer
For permission to publish the text of MSS in their possession, the editor wishes to thank the Beinecke Rare Books and Manuscript Library, Yale University; Berg Collection of English and American Literature, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations; the Bodleian Library Oxford University; the British Library; Boston Public Library; the Syndics of Cambridge University Library; the Syndics of the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge; Haverford College, Connecticut; the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; the Hornby Library, Liverpool Libraries and Information Services; the Houghton Library, Harvard University; the John Rylands Library, Manchester; the Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas; Luton Museum (Bedfordshire County Council); Massachusetts Historical Society; McGill University Library; the National Library of Scotland; the Newberry Library, Chicago; the New York Public Library (Pforzheimer Collections); the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York; the Public Record Offices of Bedford, Suffolk (Bury St Edmunds) and Northumberland, the Master and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge; the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne; the Trustees of the William Salt Library, Stafford, the Wisbech and Fenland Museum; the University of Virginia Library.
A research grant from the British Academy made much of the archival work possible, as did support from the English Department of Nottingham Trent University.
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Calmly & firmly — after long deliberation — I pronounce — I am going to America. it is my duty to depart. at present every thing smiles upon the undertaking. should the resolution of others fail, Coleridge & I will go together, & either find repose in an Indian wig-wam — or from an Indian tomahawk. but this is the last resource of disappointment & despair. if earthly virtue & fortitude can be relied on, I shall be happy.
Horace what is the origin
of moral evil? whence arise the various vices & misfortunes that
disfigure human nature & destroy human happiness? from individual
property. start not at the answer. consider well. happiness is best defined to
be the full enjoyment of mental & corporeal powers <faculties> when that enjoyment interferes not
with the well being of another. tell me Horace has the labourer who
works hard for ten hours in the day the full enjoyment of his mental faculties?
an aristocrat will answer “he does not feel the loss.” shame on that society
where Man is <so> degraded that he feels not the degradation of
his intellect! according to the computation of Adam Smith
Horace would that state of
society be happy where every man laboured two hours a day at some useful
employment. where all were equally educated — where the common ground was
cultivated by common toil, & its produce laid in common granaries. where
none were rich because none should be poor. where every motive for vice should
be annihilated & every motive for virtue strengthened? such a system we
go to establish in America. we go at least twelve men with women &
children. my Mother accompanies
me, who will then not be the only Mrs Southey. the woman whom I love has consented
to go with her sisters. xxxxxx
Burnett
Allen
Coleridge
Lovell &c. I may say
without vanity we leave not our superiors behind. we purchase a thousand acres
hire labourers to assist us in clearing it & building houses. by this
day twelve months the Pantisocratic society of Aspheterists will be settled on
the banks of the Susquehannah.
Coleridge left me yesterday. it was like the losing a limb to part with him. from him you will learn our whole plan — he will accurately explain it & convince you how just & how practicable it is. I regret Horace that I cannot urge you to accompany me — yet perhaps you may follow me. at least remember that if you marry soon, there are a number of men of science genius & virtue who will gladly receive you in Pensylvania. to a community where the only care will be that of making each other happy. would to God you could marry early in the spring & accompany us. would to God you could share in the toil & in the glory of regenerating mankind. think well my dear friend. of the propriety of emigrating I can convince you. of the practicability of your marriage you must judge. I never enquired deeply into the subject for fear of giving unnecessary pain. excuse my mentioning it now — or rather impute to the warmth of a friend, unwilling to lose you for ever & wishing you to partake the same tranquillity which he promises himself.
I have much to endure ere I depart. all the prejudices of the human heart are in arms against me, & whilst Coleridge is absent it devolves upon me to keep all our party in spirits. the woman I love almost unmans me by looking with such exquisite affection & saying — “I cannot leave my Mother without being unhappy — yet I will go with you — staying or going I must be miserable.” did I not know her strength of mind & how ardently I shall endeavour to make her happy, this would drive me beyond the bounds of reason. but we must be most happy there. would you could come with us — do Horace consider well — what prospects have you in England? were it not better to marry now than linger out years in solitary wretchedness. pardon me I may say too much on a subject of which I know so little.
I shall send you a volume of Poems
Your last verses I like much. particularly the two last stanzas
but one. buy Bowles poems,
My mind is never at rest not even for a moment. one grand object
has fully possessd my soul, to that tend the employments of the day &
the visions of the night. I look forward with impatience to the moment when I
shall ascend the bark & gaze on the lessening shore till it be for ever
lost in distance. like Adam I may “drop some natural tears — but dry them
soon.”the sorrows past sorrows will be obliterated in
anticipating future pleasure. when Coleridge & I are
sawing down a tree we shall discuss metaphysics, criticise poetry when hunting a
buffalo, & write sonnets whilst following the plough. our society will
be of the most polishd order; you will not accuse me of vanity when I rank
myself with Coleridge
& Allen, & say we
shall not leave our superiors behind. our females are beautiful amiable
& accomplishd — & I shall then call Coleridge my brother in the
real sense of the word. — this prospect is only clouded by some slight shadows —
my Aunt knows nothing of it —
& we have money to raise. of the last there is no doubt. tis however
unfortunate that I am not of age & therefore unable to sell any
reversion.
pray let me have the Minstrel immediately. write to me in the
parcel. — poor Robespierre!
I do believe he guides the storm, I trust that all will conduce to human happiness. meantime far removed from treachery corruption & slaughter — I go with my brethren & friends to establish that system which can alone prevent such convulsions in future.
If you should have seen Coleridge before you receive this, you will not look upon our plan as visionary & impracticable. you will then be convinced that it is the effect of much deliberation & deep enquiry.
when you will see me in London I know not. hardly before Xmas —
& then but passing thro to Cambridge. in the interim write to me often.
say nothing of my future views to C
Collins. he is cold hearted & like the Pharisee thanks God he
is not “even as this Republican”!his the frigidity of his
feelings, nor the self command which makes him the same to every body. my part
thro life has been decisive it is now almost accomplishd — I am about to quit a
theatre where none succeed so well as those who forget their actual characters
to ape the part allotted. from the noblest & purest motives I am about
to abandon all hopes of preferment, & to incur with pleasure the frowns
& the contempt of this society — I am about to exchange the insipidity
of literary dissipation, for the varied day of toil science & relaxation
— & the irksome vacancy of crowds for domestic happiness. the prospect
of daring to do my duty ennobles me — I feel elevated above what I ever yet have
been — Futurity opens a smiling prospect upon my view & I doubt not of
enjoying the purest happiness Man can ever experience.
pray send the Minstrel.