The Opened Letter. Lindsay O'Neill

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СКАЧАТЬ and stylized communication provided by letters, Byrd could emphasize the better and, perhaps unconsciously, smooth over the differences between his two worlds.

      When Irish letter writers used the same images, the optimistic spin was missing. When one of Perceval’s correspondents declared that Ireland was a nation “in its nonage” he did not declare its land sweeter, rather he used the metaphor to bitterly portray the English as guardians “who do every thing for us, and leave us the liberty of transacting nothing material our selves … yet for all that we are not free from faction and discord any more than our neighbours.”⁴⁰ This was not an image meant to draw souls to Ireland. Virginia was distant enough and shrouded in enough colonial rhetoric to allow Byrd to use his distance to his advantage, but doing so in Ireland was more difficult.

      Still, those residing in Ireland and those settled in the colonies often saw the links between their situations. When an acquaintance of John Perceval’s aired his ideas on colonial policy (he thought that the ignorance of the inhabitants, religious or otherwise, was “Englands Security”) he lumped the Irish in with the Americans, but what incensed Perceval was not his linking of the two, but his condemnation of learning.⁴¹ In fact, one of the threads that tied Byrd to Perceval was their peripheral origin. After congratulating Byrd on his success with the Council of Trade and Plantations, Perceval sighed, “How happy are you in your World compared with the Inhabitants of Ireland,” as he reflected on the recent loss of the right of appeal by the Irish House of Lords.⁴² Both Byrd and Perceval wanted to be enmeshed in elite social networks, but each saw themselves as protectors of the lands of their birth.⁴³ Byrd and Perceval were not internally torn between their colonial and English identities; they emphasized both in their letters. They saw themselves as members of a broader British elite even if they feared that they sat upon its periphery. To a degree this was a product of the greater Anglicanization of the British elite, but rather than simply a story of colonial acculturation it should be seen as one of elite formation that encompassed the entire British World.⁴⁴ Regional identity mattered, but how their location affected their relationship within larger networks mattered more. Belonging to the “world” had more to do with presenting urban polish and maintaining active social networks than with the exact location of one’s residence. This is why most correspondents emphasized the city and country divide when discussing place. They knew their world was one of urban centers and rural peripheries and that letters allowed them to reconnect with the heart of their social circle.

      Stability and Mobility

      Urban centers and rural peripheries defined how letter writers saw their world, but their stability or mobility defined the nature of their networks. Being a stable epistolary link on the periphery could give one power in a network, even if mobile correspondents maintained more connections. Examining the stability and mobility of ties reveals the differences between most kinds of colonial connections and most types of continental ties. The majority of letters from those in the colonies came from individuals who had settled on distant shores, purchased estates, and remained tied to that place. Their letters to England nurtured constant ties. William Byrd II expected letters yearly from John Perceval and his other English correspondents. Here quality trumped quantity. Twice as many letters came from and went to those across the English Channel, but usually these letters were the product of mobile British correspondents rather than constant continental connections. Letters to the Continent usually reveal the need to maintain British connections rather than an attempt to sustain deep ties to other Europeans.

      Colonial correspondents found power in their distance and stability. Members of the British elite were becoming increasingly entangled in the wider world, but few ever traversed it. The two William Byrds of Virginia and Hans Sloane, who spent time in Jamaica, were the only letter writers examined who ever crossed the Atlantic or visited the world beyond the well-worn grooves of the continental tour. Other Atlantic sojourners lay hidden within the sets of correspondence, though, for most of the letter writers had colonial ties and interests, even if they lacked colonial experience. Every correspondent examined either sent or received a letter from the North American colonies and many received letters from those in the West Indies, India, and Africa.⁴⁵ Some of these connections were family ties, like Nicholas Blundell’s with his brother in the Chesapeake. Some were links with friends, like Cassandra Brydges’ correspondent in Antigua. Others were of a scientific bent, like those between Hans Sloane and William Byrd II or Peter Collinson and Cadwallader Colden of New York. Correspondents back in England were interested in the colonies. John Perceval wanted to know about Bermuda because his good friend was attempting to establish a college there. He even vaguely contemplated moving there for his wife’s health and the whole Perceval family had lengthy conversations about it.⁴⁶ This interest manifested itself again when Perceval became involved in the establishment of the colony of Georgia. Cassandra and James Brydges never considered a move to the colonies, but they did have an Indian king and queen from Georgia over for dinner on 18 October 1734.⁴⁷ Writers concerned with natural history and botany wanted to know more about the colonies: Hans Sloane wrote a natural history of Jamaica, Peter Collinson placed a description of North Carolina in his commonplace book, and the Royal Society was happy to receive the curiosities Byrd sent from the colonies.⁴⁸ These colonial connections were distant ties that writers wished to nourish, and colonists played on this. They, more than other travelers, used their distance to their advantage.

      Byrd’s distance allowed him to set himself up as an authority on colonial issues and as a reliable colonial connection. When John Perceval was pondering the establishment of Georgia he described the project to Byrd and Byrd replied with his opinions, agreeing that excluding slaves and rum would be a good idea.⁴⁹ He did not always concur, however. When Perceval informed him of the plan to build a college in Bermuda to convert the indigenous people, Byrd remained skeptical, asking him where he expected to find any Indians to convert since “There are no Indians at Bermudas, nor within 200 leagues of it upon the Continent, and it will need the gift of Miracles to persuade them to leave their Country and venture themselves upon the great Ocean, on the temptation of being converted.”⁵⁰ Here Byrd’s greater knowledge about the region shines through. Byrd made sure his correspondents called on him when they needed colonial assistance. When a friend of his had a difficult time settling in Virginia Perceval called on Byrd to help him and Byrd gladly obliged.⁵¹ This was the positive side of distance and stability, for while it strained connections, it also made those links special.

      William Byrd II repeatedly used his colonial status to make himself and his letters more attractive. When writing to friends in England he used colonial references to spice up his correspondence. He included phrases like “I am with a true Indian sincerity, your humble and obedient servant” or “The many favours I was so happy as to receive from your Lordship in England, stick fast in my memory in all climates, and I believe I could go thro’ the ceremony of husquenawing without forgetting them.”⁵² Byrd then spent the next paragraph describing husquenawing, an initiation ceremony for young boys when they were to forget their youth. The description intrigued the receiver and he wrote in the margin of his letter book: “The Ceremony of husquenawing (among the Indians) described.”⁵³ In another letter, Byrd threatened to haunt his sister-in-law with the help of an Indian magician.⁵⁴ When he found that the Royal Society had not listed him as a member in 1741, he reminded them that “I am alive, and by the help of ginseng hope to survive some years longer.”⁵⁵ When forgotten, Byrd promoted colonial products such as ginseng to remind his correspondents of his colonial knowledge and thus of his importance. These kinds of descriptions did find an audience in England. Years later John Eliot’s cousin wrote, “I have heard it said of the Indians in America that they always put up the first offense from the Whites, attributing it either to Mistake or Ignorance, we should do well to follow their example herein.”⁵⁶ Interest in the Americas allowed colonists to slip small rarities into their letters to strengthen their epistolary connections.

      However, many letter writers did not need to depend on their distant origins to maintain connections because they were but ephemeral visitors to these locations. A number of correspondents who wrote from beyond British СКАЧАТЬ