He wonders what he has achieved with the Countess de la Porta. He asks him to go to Bratislava and take with him everything connected with strawberry trees and silk.
Lieber Freund, was haben Sie mit der Gräfin de la Porta[a] gemacht?
Ist es möglich, so kommen Sie nach Presburg, wohin ich morgen wieder zurückkehre,[b] auf einige Tage. Bringen Sie Alles,[1] was die Maulberbäume und die Seiden Kultur angehet mit sich[c] — so wie auch alles, was wir brauchen würden, um einen Speratif[d] auf das Jahr 1826 zu machen.
Ich bekam Sahländers[e] Brief[f] — er soll mir wieder schreiben
Széchenyi
In Eile
Wien 9ten 10ber[g]
[1] Széchenyi’s underlining with straight line.
[a] The countess had a mulberry grove around Milan. Széchenyi ordered 100,000 mulberry saplings in the autumn of 1825.
[b] He set out for Bratislava on December 10, 1825. SzIN 2. 661.
[c] See the letter of 12 September 1825.
[d] Every year, Széchenyi had Liebenberg prepare a preliminary budget (sperativ calcul) with the expected expenses and revenues.
[e] Thomas Sahländer (1788–1855), Széchenyi’s stable master. In 1821 he was contracted to István Széchenyi as a veterinarian and stable master in Nagycenk. They went to England together several times to buy horses. Later he was employed by Palatine József and then by Palatine István. He retired when the palatine institution was abolished in 1848.
[f] The letter is unknown.
[g] Based on its content, the letter was written in 1825.
Recommended reference:
István Széchenyi to János Liebenberg, Bratislava, 9 December 1825. Edited and annotated by Szilvia Czinege. Published in Correspondence of István Széchenyi. Digital edition. Edited by Szilvia Czinege and Zoltán Fónagy. https://szechenyilevelezes.abtk.hu/ Abbreviation for further references: SzIL-Digit.