Letters Written in France (1790–1796) is a series of letters written by English writer Helen Maria Williams. Williams wrote eight volumes of letters describing her firsthand experience of the French Revolution for British audiences, of which the first volume, describing the summer of 1790, was the most famous and influential. Williams expressed consistent confidence in the revolutionary ideals of liberty and equality, even after the development of violence and war in France.
Background
In the 1780s, Williams became "a literary star of the first magnitude" in England, known for her poetry and novels, which used the aesthetics of sensibility to advocate for social reform. She was prominent in the social circles of Dissenters and Whigs, connected to figures like Andrew Kippis, Anna Laetitia Barbauld and William Godwin. She campaigned against the slave trade, and against laws like the Test Act which restricted the civil rights of non-Anglicans.
Some time in 1785 or 1786, Williams and her sister Cecilia began taking French lessons from Monique du Fossé. Monique was living in England with her daughter while her husband, Augustin du Fossé, was in prison in France for having married her against his father's will. Augustin's father, a Baron, used a lettre de cachet to bar him from inheriting his family's aristocratic estate. His father died in 1787, and after the fall of the Bastille in 1789, du Fossé reclaimed his inheritance.
Williams and her sister arrived in Paris for a tour of France on 13 July 1790, the day before the first Fête de la Fédération. The two travelled through France for two months, visiting Monique and Augustin du Fossé, and returned to England in September 1790. Williams returned to France in 1791 for a longer stay, which became a permanent move. Her last visit to England was a brief trip in 1792. In Paris, her apartment became "an important meeting place for French, American, and British radicals," and Williams was associated with the Girondins.
Williams was arrested under the Law of Suspects on 12 October 1793, along with her mother and sister Cecilia. They were imprisoned, until a nephew of Monique du Fossé arranged their freedom in November. Many of Williams' close friends in France were executed for opposition to the Jacobins. In April 1794, Robespierre ordered all foreigners to leave the capital; Williams fled to Switzerland for six months. She returned after Robespierre's execution.
Contents
Williams' discussion of French social reform was unflaggingly optimistic, expressing her faith in the ideals of liberty and equality and her excitement that these principles could eliminate tyranny around the world. She expressed frequent hopes that England would be inspired to social reform, and especially that slavery would be abolished. Early on, these hopes were shared by other English writers, but after a series of massacres within France, and wars between France and other nations, Williams became unusual for remaining committed to revolutionary ideals. She never endorsed violence, but saw it as a perversion of revolutionary ideals, often attributable to Robespierre's hypocrisy and corruption.
Volume one
The first volume was published in 1790 with the full title of Letters written in France: in the summer 1790, to a friend in England: containing various anecdotes relative to the French revolution; and memoirs of Mons. and Madame du F---- (Fossé). The twenty-six letters cover Williams' visits to various locations associated with the Revolution, a true history of the du Fossé family and her own personal views alongside sociological observations. The first volume can be roughly divided into three unequal parts:
Letters I–XV: Williams' narrative begins at a mass at Notre-Dame de Paris on the eve of the Fête de la Fédération, a celebration to commemorate the first anniversary of the Storming of the Bastille. From here the letters describe figures of the Revolution; they also chart her visits to sites that include the ruins of the Bastille, the National Assembly and the Palace of Versailles. It finishes several weeks later with a journey from Paris to Rouen. Letter XVI–XXII: Williams offers the history of the du Fossé family. It chronicles the younger du Fossé's decision to go against the will of his father in his choice of whom to marry, and the various abuses he suffers by him thereafter as he tries to escape his strict control. A true history with the 'air of romance', it serves as a fable for the Revolution. Letters XXIII–XXVI: The narrative returns to the eyewitness epistolary form with a focus on England, to which Williams prepares to return, and then does.