102.: trower to ricardo1 - David Ricardo, The Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo, Vol. 6 Letters 1810-1815 [1810]
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The Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo, ed. Piero Sraffa with the Collaboration of M.H. Dobb (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2005). Vol. 6 Letters 1810-1815.
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First published by Cambridge University Press in 1951. Copyright 1951, 1952, 1955, 1973 by the Royal Economic Society. This edition of The Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo is published by Liberty Fund, Inc., under license from the Royal Economic Society.
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102.
trower to ricardo
Unsted Wood—Godalming— [ca. 23 July 1815]
Dear Ricardo
I trust that this will catch you before you have spread your wings, and taken flight to the Westward—Even you must, by this time, be parched and panting for the Country; and impatient to turn your back upon the modern Babylon. —I am rejoiced to find, that you have wisely determined no longer to subject yourself to the anxieties and vexations of business. Rest assured, that you will daily find occasion to applaud the wisdom of your resolve; and that you will become more enamoured of the vegetable part of the creation the better you are acquainted with it.—I depend upon your devoting a portion of your time and attention to farming, and especially to that most interesting and important branch of it, the growth and culture of Trees.—Remember to carry with you into the Country Dr Hunters edition of Evlyns Silva, and Nichols Planters Kalendar. —You will find, that an attention to this subject will give a great additional interest to your landed possessions, and afford you an unlimitted pleasureable pursuit.
You ask me the fate of my Omnium. I sold it at 10. and might have obtained a higher price had I not been too sanguine. I entertained a confident opinion that the result would be such as it has proved, and expected that one so glorious and important would have produced a greater effect upon the Funds. But there is no reasoning upon them, therefore the less one has to do with them the better. Excepting upon those golden opportunities which Loans judiciously taken generally afford.—
Bonaparte captive! That one word will in [the eyes] of posterity efface the whole glory of his lif[e. He] should have died with “the harness on h[is back” or] must have afforded a mark for scorn to p[oint a] finger at. Really the close of his career [makes] him appear contemptibly ridiculous, and ridicu[lously] contemptible.—What will become of him I k[now not.] But sure I am, that justice requires h[im to] expiate his offences on the block. Europe [...] Europe cries for vengeance on his head—[His] life is forfeited to France— Should we have spared the life of the Pretender? Was he not proscribed when the event was doubtful, and now that certainty has made him theirs shall they hesitate to act? In surrendering to us, he has in fact surrendered to the Allies; the Allies should deliver him up to the french Government, and they should consign him to the Devil.—It is a sacrifice necessary for the happiness of France and for the peace of Europe. As long as he is above ground, dispose of him as you will, he will form a nucleus round which the [? discontented] will collect and gather.—Adieu my Dear [Ricardo. Our] united Compliments to Mrs. Ricardo [and family.] Most probably when next I write to you [I shall have] to announce an addition to my own.
Remember your letters will at all times be most acceptable to me, and be assured that I shall estimate their value in a manner very different from that in which it appears you have done—