Memoir and Letters of Francis W. Newman

etters is dated March, 1850, and concerns Newman'

objections raised by the learned.... Do you attend to Indian affairs? The disbanding of our Native Indian armies, the prospect of a sure surplus in the Indian treasury, with the necessity of a conciliatory policy to all the Indian princes as soon as we are disarmed, seem to me as light pouring in through a dark cloud. But I am not easy (far from it) until we get out of this Chinese scrape. I have for years maintained that the more we fight against China the more we shall teach them the art of war; and unle

egards to

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n his aim of becoming President of the French Republic. But he had practically led his army through a sea of blood to reach this a

in as Prime Minister at the head of a Conservative Party. He only remained in office a short tim

he was when Kossuth came to England for funds to set going the new Hungarian revolution agains

, "19th D

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er, so does Carlyle often.) But all that can be said against Kossuth is, that up to the age of twenty-two or twenty-three he was a thoughtless young man, who liked hunting and gambling. Since that age he is irreproachable, the proof of which is, that the Austrian

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so that he does not do all the justice he might to his better wishes;

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s only sixteen, seeing the refugees who fled from the unfortunate rising in Piedmont, he determined then and there to rescue his country when he should be old enough to do so. He made "the first great

, and on being released he went and organized the "Young Italy Association." The object of it was to teach the mass of the peop

om." In 1844 Mazzini accused the English Government of having opened his letters and told their contents to the authorities of Italy. This set the whole of England against him, but Carlyle defended him

can manifesto." He strongly condemned the agreement made in 1859 between Napoleon III and Piedmont, because he foresaw its inevitable consequences. Mazzini, Garibaldi, and Cavour were a trio who largel

E OF LETTER FROM FRANCI

iday night, 2

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ld tell a lie to his English friends in order to get the wherewith to die a martyr's death; and it makes it very hard to trust his simple truth in future. But if (as one friend of his thinks) Mazzini's own opinion has changed, it lowers one's notion of his discernment. In fact, it is scarcely credible to me. There are those, I find, who have lately helped him to money, expressly thinking it was a going to martyrdom, but believing he was bent on it, and that possibly he may now do more good to Italy by his death than ever he can do by his life. I cannot take this view. I believe the tyrants would have the good sense to destroy him so secretly that no moral effect should follow from his death; and if he utterly disapproved of an outbreak, I do not understand the 'honour' which should make him go to useless destruction when his life may

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iscusses public affairs

with Dr. N

of a peace which saves all their territory and reserves all their free action.... Only yesterday came the news of Omar Pasha's 5th November victory. Even if it be exaggerated, still the repulse at Kars and this new defeat make it impossible for Russia to make peace now without a humiliation such as L. N. cannot attempt to remove. It may so be that L. N. will be blown up by his finance and by popular discontent; it may also be that his difficulties will lead him to make popular c

will rise, and after it Hungary,

h he so often ascribes to nations, and from which he says a statesman must catch his inspiration. Our nation did not know what he knew-that Austria had given just ground of war to Turkey-that Turkey was ready in October, 1853, to ally with Hungary against Austria; nor could it know what were the military facilities for overthrowing Austria, nor whether the stubborn resistance of Louis Napoleon was what forced Aberdeen into his policy. But t

ion with Ledru Rollin i

an in E

see that if we weaken Russia we strengthen the chances of liberty, though Aberdeen would not allow his particular policy in 1853-4. We are doing so very much more than he asked of the Americans in 1852 that the tone he assumes is wonderful. And then to scoff as he does, as though we had done nothing in destroying the Russian Black Sea Fleet and overthrowing the whole prestige of their military

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f the "Harry" who is mentioned elsewhere in this volume, as having been Professor Alley

.P., "28th

s been taught through Robson's Constructive Greek Exercises, which, I presume, Harry ought at once to work at.... A Greek Grammar by Mr. Greenwood

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hen he loses not only papa and mamma, but also his faithful coadjutor in study- Annie! Seriously, you will have to consider about his evening amusements, for it will not do to be studying morning and night. What think you of giving a well defined time to drawing every evening? H

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mongst mistaken policies, blundering Government tactics, and aimless ambitions, holds a foremost place. It was not till the end of the year 1855 that it came to an end. After the attack on Sebastopol, the French-whose army had suffered quite as much from the terrible wint

e, East. "24th

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ecting to accept in March, 1855, that I cannot open my lips against the peace in itself. I could not in any case wish the war continued, except on new principles for worthier objects. However, Russia has really had a terrible lesson, and a great humiliation. That she could not take Silistria or Kars against Turkish troops, except by the accident of famine, will never be forgotten by German armies or statesmen.... The native Russian peasants and low persons do not yet know that the Czar was beaten; they suppose him to have conquered with immense cost; but the nobility knew the truth,

also from other private quarters which I count much on; but reviews as yet do not notice me.... I have no high expectation

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year he thus speaks of

leg

ew?) [Footnote: Probably this was the father of the present Sir Edward Sassoon, second Baronet.] I mistook for a German, but he told me he is an Arab of Hindoo birt

France or Austria." That he feels it must come sooner or later, so that it would be better for Italy to act and suffer rather than to become "stupefi

e? I find that it is. I leave Italians to judge of the time. Meanwhile every year I would give of my superfluity to the aid of patriotic effort.... To fail ten times may be necessary for success in the eleventh. If they were losing heart and becoming denationalized, the case would be bad; but it is the contrary. The fusion with Austria is impossible. The more they

affection

W. N

. Nichols

he had in September been spending some time at Ventnor. "A youth introduced to me by Mrs. Pulszky is zealous in the Greek tragedians, a

lation to which a

LES, AN

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that, in the early part of the nineteenth century, she began, at the sugg

to enable them to pay the expenses of the war, caused the former to rise in insurrection in 1829. The death of the Crown Prince in 1833 seemed the cro

h Government made the Shah sign an agreement in 1853 that he would give up pressing his claims as regarded Herat. But in 1856 the Persians retook this city, because they declared that the Ameer of Kabul was planning an advance on Herat. Thereupon a British arm

ondon, "19th

I had forsworn. I am not sure that something will not come of it-to me at least. I have already

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it seeks after; and the country's honour is committed while Parliament is not even sitting. And for this we throw up Italy and ... Switzerland? Have you

ever

W.

some passages from it to show the Professor's own views as regards evening home preparation for boys who are

if there is nobody at home to answer questions. Besides, Harry" (this is Harry Nicholson, mentioned two or three times in these letters as attending University College School) "is so studious of himself

iligence and progress. At the end of the letter comes this little touch as to some of the schoolboy belongings which had been left behind

the owner of the snail

. I suppose she is like Hecuba, grieved that she could not make the funeral of Hector. (I did not even kiss Harry by proxy

ack, as in so many cases he was accustomed to do with regard to his own letters towards the close of his life. He had a theory that letters should not be kept, and many people have told me that he asked for his letters back in order to destroy them. Happily, however, this is not the theory which everyone holds. Indeed, to many of us, the Past lies so near the written word, that almost it re-awakens between the folds of a letter; indeed, in many instances, the Past and Present only m

great numbers of plays and farces; but beside all these, he contributed, as is well known, to Punch (at its first commencement in 1841), as

o the Lakes, and also his expressed delight in a book, many copies

etimes think with a sort of envy how your knowledge of medicine and tender heart for young children puts you into near an

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sixpence to his family, though he was in receipt of

ning to the belief that Terence, Virgil, and Horace had "damaged" the Latin language in very much

he does not move among high ideals or subtle emotions.... He carried on and perfected the native Roman growth, satire, so as to make Roman life from day to day, in city and country,

entor and artificer who added a new instrument of music to its majestic orchestra, a new weapon of expression to its noble armoury.... But one must admit that to the taste of the present age there occurs a certain coldness and artificiality in his portraya

Nov.

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of having a smack of the original. I have been inclining to the belief that Terence, Virgil, and Horace have done damage to the Latin language, or at least to our taste; just as Pope was the ruin of English poetry so long as he was allowed to dictate the style and cadences. In Plautus, Lucretius, and Catullus the language has a flexibility and the metres a freedom which (as I think) academicians and schoolmasters have not duly appreciated, and which ought to impart to us (when we do do anything so absurd as to write foreign verses) a freedom at which we have not generally aimed. As to metre, I think it rea

st regards

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h later to America. In 1852 he was condemned to death by the Austrian Government, but his fourteen years spent in Italy seem to have influenced the Ministers to pardon him in 1867. While in England (I do not know if he suffered from it elsewhere) he became a martyr to tic douleureux, that m

ar Nic

l this autumn when he was at Ventnor again. He was delighted to find she had been immediately cured by it, had had no returns, was made competent for work, and is in a servant's place. On my naming this, I have two urgent applications for the prescriptions. If you will a

ace of the late lamented Brigadier Nicholson of the Punjaub,

ours he

"7 P.V.E." "20t

lson of the Punjaub" to his friend Dr. Nicholson is one of those arresting suggestions which seem to st

hat of Dr. John Nicholson in this book, could have had a doubt. But, as it seems to me, there is even more ground for the likelihood of Newman's suggestion,

erry, the other in Dublin. During McGuire's rebellion in 1641, his son's wife and her baby boy "were the only two in Cran-na-gael" [now known as Cranagill] "who escaped the common massacre by hiding behind some brushwood. In their wanderings thence they fell in with a party of loyalist soldiers, who escorted them safely to Dromore, whence they made their way across sea to the widow's former home at Whitehaven...." What beca

border county of Cumberland," and that to which Dr. John Nicholson, the lifelong friend of Francis Newman, belonged. The latter also belonged to a north country family who, I believe, settled on the borders of England and Scotland. Dr. Nicholson h

8. In August, 1858, Newman was again de

I think I have done 1500 lines in all. I only translate short pieces and pleasing ones. I have been led to it by a practical object. I used to hate Latin versification, and indeed the extreme poverty and ambiguity of the language is laid bare shockingly by the process. Perhap

s in our Australians, of which you will hear an echo. It is indeed a criti

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Gladstone as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Then, when Palmerston acceded to the demand that a committee of enquiry should be appointed, Gladstone, who had opposed it before, thought he ought not to remain in the Cabinet which had now agreed to have the enquiry made. So he gave up office, but still helped the Government generally until after Orsini's at

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Gladstone. He was a hero of mine for about a year. I hoped great things of him. After the letters on Naples and his Chancellorship of the Exchequer, I thought he had worked c

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at Arabic for some time, because he has undertaken to teach a friend moder

lace, Hastings,

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I could not have been so rash or so foolish as to undertake to teach ancient Arabic; yet I am almost driven on learning the ancient by the number of questions which have kept arising.... I have been looking up all my old MSS., and am surpri

e belonging to the ye

isms on the policy and unscrupu

his campaign in Lombardy against Austria he was assisted by Great Britain. In May, when this letter

S. John's Wood,

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Italy and not to seek dominion in Italy for France. If he fails he shatters his own power in Paris: so much the better, I suppose. If he succeeds, Italy is a certain gainer, and Europe through Italy. I say a certain gainer, because the existing oppression (testified by Gladstone and Clarendon) rests upon the aid of Austria, and is far worse than war, and worse than a transitory dictatorship of France; and the mischief of Austria has been that her power has been confirmed by European diplomacy; but if France proves treacherous, it will be against the protest of Europe, and her rule cannot be permanent. Besides, L. N. must almost of necessity give some aggrandizem

at his wife may go to those places for which she has a special affection. Not infrequently he gives up a journey much farther afield for the purpose of pursuing antiquarian resea

July

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od. But when she began to remember in detail the climate of the Lakes, her courage broke down, and she said there was nothing did us good but the sea

and then copied it out to transmit it to you, with my translation into English. I should like you to see a specimen of my Roman (?) character, and also to hear what you think of the capacity and power of the modern language as compared with the ancient.... I hope you are hitherto well satisfied with Italian affai

th, and relates how he is busy transl

several causes: (1) It is not pointed, nor even the Teshdied added; (2) I could not bring Golin's with me, and the dictionaries which I have are very imperfect; (3) the writer has most arbitrarily

ous example, and the characters and symbols proceeded from right to left. In its most ancient form it is named "Kufic." There are only symbols for sixteen out of its twenty-eight consonants. Certain of our o

with th

om of many words that puzzle me, though others are probably modern developments, especially quadrilaterals and words belonging to special arts. But there is a religious formula which recurs many times, every word of which is easy, and yet the whole of it is to

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e have stuck here" [at Aberystwith] "longer than we intended; in fact, we should have left nearly a week ago, only that Mrs. N. caught a sharp cold, and the weather became suddenly so severe that I have feared to let her travel.... Pro

er your t

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