LAYARD (Sir Austen Henry, 1817-1894, Archaeologist, M.P. & Diplomat, Excavator of Nineveh)

Long Autograph Letter Signed to Alexander MITCHELL (of Stow, Midlothian, and Carolside, Berwickshire, Captain Grenadiers Guards, M.P. for Berwick-on-Tweed, 1865-1868), thanking him for writing instead of "enjoying the country and all the rest, I hope, you are getting", Layard's work has almost cut him off "from society. The price of office is not a small one" (as Under-Secretary to Russell at the Foreign Office), he hopes to get a holiday in the middle of September, and is thinking of North Italy, "but if I could manage to get to Scotland ... I should require no workroom I promise, but devote myself to play" at Carolside, however "I like to get clear out of Great Britain, so as to have no temptation to return to London before my time. If I am within reach I always feel anxious ... & fancy I ought to be at headquarters", he is grieved to find "poor Sir John Harding," (the Queen's Advocate), "so ill. I much fear that he will never be able to attend to business of any kind again ... In the United States the Confederates seem now to be gaining ground, and the summer months work in their favor. Unfortunately I see no prospect of an end to this terrible war", he points Mitchell to the 'Daily News' of the 28th for "a most interesting account of the last moments of Cavour" (who had seen Vittorio Emanuele II proclaimed King of Italy but whose health had given way), "furnished by his niece who was with him ... Friday is the Ministerial Irish Dinner - the harbinger of the end of the season. I shall be truly glad when I am released from Derby Griffith and Col. Sykes", and asks to be remembered to Mrs Mitchell (Fanny Georgiana Jane, née Hasler, afterwards wife, 1877, of the 11th Lord Reay), 7 sides 8vo., House of Commons, 30th July

In the 1840s Layard, supported by the British ambassador at Constantinople, made astonishing discoveries in ancient Assyria. Later, as M.P., he visited the Crimea and was an outspoken critic of the conduct of the war. Between 1857 and 1860 he was out of the Commons and devoted his energies to causes dear to his heart, the Risorgimento in Italy and the art of the unsophisticated early Renaissance, visiting Italy and buying pictures for himself and the National Gallery.
Sir John Harding, (1809-1868), was Queen's Advocate, 1852-1862, then the senior Law Officer of the Crown. His continuing illness from overwork was a critical factor in the 'Alabama' incident a year later. The American minister, Mr Charles F. Adams, had complained that the vessel being built on the Clyde was clearly intended as a man-of-war to support the South. The papers remained on Sir John's desk till the 29th July 1862 - it seems they may have given him a stroke - but the 'Alabama' had slipped away on the 28th.

Item Date:  1861

Stock No:  56104      £375

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