Memoir and Letters of Francis W. Newman

of only Sardinia. He only had to wait one year before his wish was attained. Victor Emmanuel, son of Charles Albert, King of Sardinia, was in 1861 proclaimed King of Italy, and nine ye

r before as well) were reading together. Mrs. Beecher Stowe was, of course, best known by her Uncle Tom's

20 WHITE ROCK

LE PARADE

AN OFTEN STAYED, I

in 1909 by Valenti

rade, Hastings,

ar Nic

for the future brightly contrasted to anything for ten years back. For this, among men, I thank, first of all, Cavour and Victor Emmanuel, and secondly,

*

, [Footnote: Hiawatha and Robinson Crusoe were very much used for Latin translations at the college by Newman.] and

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s into that language. I am pleased with the result, although it is clear to me that without a development of the Latin vocabulary far beyond Cicero, Livy, Tacitus, and Seneca no one could ever be fluent and free to speak on modern subjects. One has to paraphrase and go round instead of speaking outright. I am thinking I ought to know something more about Arnobius and L

Latin Robinson Crusoe and his own difficulties as to how to find o

busy ... with a Latin Robinson Crusoe, rewritten quite freely (not a translation), that I have not been able to get back just now to Arabic; and have buried your letter in papers so deep that I lost much time the other day in a vain search for it.... In writing on Robinson's island I found my botany sadly at a loss, and have hunted the Penny Cyclopaed

moned by Cavour to fight for Victor Emmanuel. He and his Chasseurs des Alpes went into Central Italy as chief in command, and helped to complete the annexation of the Sardinian territories. It was in August,

John's Wood, "London,

ar Nic

ant journey demanded this kind of 'receipt' from a traveller; but we now travel too much to make it natural. I am reading the Book of Proverbs in Arabic, i

*

and the politicians.... Do you see Garibaldi's renewed solemn promise that his flag shall be joined to the Hungarian in effecting their liberation from Austria? What I hear and know of Lord Palmerston's intrigues against Hungary and threats to Sardinia if she dares to assist Hungary ... fills me with indignation and no small alarm. No doubt all that intrigue can do is now employed to induce Austria to sell Venetia, not in order to benefit Italy (though to this they have n

true f

is W.

really interfere with the doings of any particular State of the Union. The North determined that they would not allow the Union to be broken up, and so they fought. But really the true point at is

eace was made. England very nearly was brought into this war against her colonies, but happily not quite.

June

is by no means clear to me. I hope our Government has discovered its error as regards America.... The glorious patriotism and unanimity of the North none could absolutely foresee; but that the attempt to break up the Union would goad the pro-slavery faction of the North into

s Road, L

ar Nic

sted, pretty well tranquillizes your mind, and justifie

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us, that she break up! England may have all India, but the United States may not have one Mississippi, or keep the mouth of her own river. I have never felt so unutterably ashamed for my own country, for it affects public men and the press of London on all sides, with exceptions which may be easily counted. Are you not delighted with the progress of India for the better? It appears in the public news in many ways; but besides, I have papers from Oudh and Calcutta which interest me extremely, and give me the most cheerful hopes of the future. The change introduced by the ext

leges; but still its directors practically ruled India under the Board of Control, which Pitt originated. Later, in 1858, Lord Palmers

iversity College, and evidently looked forward with great

makes my face dirty, and one eye too dark; yet seen through a magnifier it is really good.) I seem to have an Augean stable to cleanse in reducing my papers to simplicity, and burning accumulations of thirty years. I am not likely to write less, but perhaps mo

eep on with right to leave at

hich the United States was passing, it is perhaps as well to give, b

ptions. This paper he carried on for thirty-five years until slavery was abolished in the United States, although he received constantly letters threatening his assassination. He came to England in 1833, and on his return he started the American Anti-Slavery Society. Before that was accomplished, however, in every way possible he had spread over the whole of the States pamphlets etc., urging on his people the pressing need of the abolition of the slave trade. Then in 1863 (Ju

etter is dated

outh is so marked and undeniable that the real end may be much earlier than the people think.... General Neal Dow (now a prisoner at Richmond) in his last letter to England observed that the moral end served by the prolongation of the war had notoriously been the immediate legal emancipation of the negroes in the Gulf States; but the further prolongation of it is to determine the future int

man and his wife were s

From there

interior nationality (as the French plan is), this would seem to be a very lamentable result. The two Western Cabinets have so acted as to ensure that Russia and the United States shall each desire the aggrandizement of the other; and if Russia take a lesson of im

the first instance the name of some man at a time when he is not specially distinguished; and then, much later on, the second prefaces it as the mouthpiece of Fa

family, he was "anti-everything," including smoke, yet he mentions constantly in his Personal Narrative that in Syria during his missionary journey there in 1830-3, the f

, "17th Se

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d of stupefaction or negligence. The recent celebrated victorious cricketer, a Mr. Grace, it is said, will not take even tea; but prefers water. (I hope the water is better than that of Windermere!) Two months ago I was reading from a sporting newspaper about a ro

and tobacco lower the vital powers, and that men

essen your appetite (which is less keen surely th

, to a much more intricate subj

ch, one of the great authorities on cuneiform inscripti

s by other nations. It was inscribed on stone, iron, bronze, glass, or clay. The stylus which impressed the inscriptions on them was pointed, and had thre

hat these inscriptions, in a writing to which no one in the wide world possessed a key, must mean something. Therefore he had a line of them copied. In 1693 they were supposed to be "the ancient writings of the Gaures." Hyde, in 1700, trifled with them, and gave them credit for being nothing more than the architect's fan

my of G?ttingen the first cuneiform alphabet. Then,

is Persian; the second the Me

vegetable substance, known by the native name of likhusi. He thinks it probable that the supply of t

tter is

ar Nic

for neglecting you, so absorbed (it seems) have I been. I cannot even tell whether I told you of my two months' devotion to Cuneifo

olly to it for any chance of getting to its foundations. But I feel on perfectly solid ground in Medo- Persian or Scythian. Difficulties in them are like difficulties in Greek or Sanscrit

... I was very gloomy about American affairs four or six weeks ago. The President seemed running fast to ruin. But his plans have happily broken down s

gelley, "20t

ar Nic

with my wife, and she would be killed with ennui if I took her, and would more than double the expense, I have not seen how to do it. Besides, I want money to publish my books.... General Grant's position between Petersburg and Richmond is become terribly anxious (my last news was his loss of six thousand men in attacking the fortresses behind the one which he blew up), and unless ultimately successful, the longer he tarries, the more complete will be his disaster.... I have always been despondent as to the Northern scheme for forcing its way through Eastern Virginia; and am not the better reconciled to it by Grant's campaign. There is no sound success for the North now, unless they put the 'coloured' race politically on equal terms with the 'whites,' and not

d 24th November,

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speech of Andrew Johnson at Nashville, proclaiming liberty 'full, broad, and unconditional' to every person in Tennessee. It is in so hearty and outspoken a tone as to double its value. 'Loyal men alone, whether white or black, shall rule the destiny of Tennessee.' 'All men who are for equal rights are his friends.' Now that he is Vice-President-elect I cannot but hope a great change for the better in Mr. L

legal methods of getting liquor (for medicine, for chemistry, for art)." He adds: "The sole question is, whether by an agent of the pub

. seems to persist in his publicly avowed preference of gradual abolition. Could he have had his way, I predicted, and would still predict, twenty years of misery, confusion, with probably new war unfavourable to the North. Garrison has done his worst to aid the President, but Sumner and Wendell Phillips have (as I now take cour

of Arabic-English. I have got a valuable book from Algiers (if it had but vowel points!). Bu

4, he is again writing

hat (against the morality of his heart) his official duty is to do nothing for the coloured race except under compulsion and to save the whole Republic from foundering. He knows they are subjects of the Union, and owe allegiance to it, to the point of laying down their lives for it; yet he does not know that those who owe allegiance have an indefeasible right to protection. He is conquering rebellious States, and does not know that the conqueror is thenceforward RESPONSIBLE for the institutions which he permits in those States, and bel

a powerful landed aristocracy, with a wretched dependent peasantry free in name only.... A far sterner nature than his was wanted, which

heerfully, and can enjoy seeing her sisters. When I look at her I fancy she is pretty well;... yet I feel that she might be carried off very suddenly. Indeed, this was her mother's case, who had the very same combination of disease, and retained much muscular strength to the last. We had two physicians at Hastings, and here she is under Dr. Garth Wilkinson. I have no complaint against any of the physicians: they seem to me all to have done all they could; but nothing

s. Newman's strength and recuperative pow

ot only in comparative health, but gives a hope of acquiring more soundness in the next three months. I give up this house" (10 Circ

months late

e roof and pipes either out of repair or insufficient, rat holes very troublesome,... cisterns and taps all in unsatisfactory state. Last night, for the third time in ten days, I have been inundated through two floors." But he adds more hopefully than

ld be impossible, much more if a German Parliament were summoned. And now the King himself proposes Universal Suffrage for all men above twenty-five and of unblemished character! This seems to make any English Reform Bill impossible, which is not far more democratic than any practical statesman here has yet imagined. Neve

ictionary is finished, though revisions are to be added later. At the end of the letter

March,

ar Nic

of our marriage: the season from December to May was the severest that I take note of since the great historical winter of 1813 (1812?). This begins to remind me of 1836.... I had hoped that continued work at Arabic would explain to me certain fixed difficulties in the documents which I have studied; but a number of them,

to do enough to stop and satisfy the outdoors Reform movement. If Russell would retire, or were forced to retire, and Gladstone had courage and resolution to make a Radical Ministry, including Bright and Mill, Stansfeld, Forster, Milnes, Gibson, etc. (to which the Duke of Argyle would adhere), and were to dissolve Parliament if necessary-even so it would be hard to pass through the Lords a measure adequate to s

meantime had become more and more ready for such a measure. Its conditions were that borough franchise was given to all rate- payers, and lodgers who used rooms of the annual value of ten pounds. But perhaps a great deal of the driving power came from the large numbers of the working-classes which were now added to the constituencies. In 1868 Disraeli, who had now become Prime Minister, retired when he found that the Liberal majority reached to over a hundred through the new elections. Then came the man of the hour, whom Newman

April,

ar Nic

ur Turkish Dictionary you find (this) to mean tax, at your entire leisur

a and Alabama. N. C. comes out 'square' for the Republican party, and Alabama avows Republican sentiments.

rous than he had believed. Although Congress has been pusillanimous in the extreme, and always deficient, both as to time and substance, and although the danger of reaction is not past, still everything is turning for the better since the last act of the thir

ours co

. New

having no medical knowledge of the risks or non-risks of vaccination, but from what he considers to be the rational point of view he objects to it most strongly. He protests that Government Vaccinators have "for many years obtained a large part of what they called lymph ... (pus, or matter, is the only right word) by in

ischief somehow. throw an eruptive disease back into the system is proverbially dangerous.... Moreover, what right has any physic

ase without caring to extirpate the causes of the existing disease is a want of common sense." In the letter following, the "Harry" (Dr. Henry) is the boy who boar

te or address

ar Nic

the ground that it was not pleasant to me to be in public opposition to him, for he was son of an i

phlet I read: 'Small-pox-never

and fester, without curdling into vital action. The provisional assumption with me concerning smallpox, is, that wherever its predisposing causes exist, there the

is Dr. Henr

an in every room of every house at every moment examining what is under the shirt and shift, with microscope in hand, to see the disease come of itself,... Dr. Henry goes on to say, 'and it APPEARS to have spread solely by infection or contagion.' It appears! This is so modest, that the reader fancies he may grant it. But the next words are: 'TWO CONCLUSIONS FOLLOW from this,' etc. etc. In short, he has for

872 to 1882 (t

super-Mare, and is concerned chiefly with his wife's terrible fall, and a

ing the time while he was working as farm-labourer. Those who have read Father Benson's Sentimentalists, and also Robert Louis Stevenson's book on the same subject, will not fail to understand how complete and full is the education which comes to a man through both doors-that of physical labour, and that of

Dec.

ar Nic

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de, no finger being allowed to move. This, I am assured, is hospital practice; but it is vehemently condemned by others, and in her case, at least, I believe it was wrong. Whether she will eve

, with English immigrants, that our peasants, as soon as they became more wideawake, would have the game in their own hands, and neither farmers nor landlords could resist.... I now should not wonder to live to see ... household suffrage extended to the peasantry-and as results, coming some earlier, all soon, overthrow of the existing Drink Traffic, of Contagious Diseases Act, Army Reform on a vast scale, Female Equality with Men in the Eye of the Law, overthrow of Landlords' p

onstant

. New

ascribes his health to the Triple alliance of his three

*

isited you at Penrith! It was the summer of 1842, I think, t

tions are surely best when one is past seventy, yet my spirits are inexhaustible, and my sense of health perfect.

fectiona

. New

ough to frighten Cato the elder. [Footnote: Marcus Portius Cato, born at Tusculum 234 B.C., passed his childhood on his father's farm. In later years he wrote several works on husbandry, its rules, etc. When he was elected Censor in 184 he made great efforts to check national luxury and to urge a return to the simpler life of his Roman ancestors. He was very strict and despotic as regards contract prices paid by the State, a

me your t

. New

incerely. He was now seventy-one years of age, and had, as his letters show, begun already to feel lack of power and health. It was evident to himself towards the

on concerning his second marriage to Miss Williams, who had for many years liv

Dec.

ar Nic

is black edge" (of the note paper) "is for my only surviving sister, whose death is just announced to me. She was my fondest object of boyish love, and it is impossible not to grieve. On the other hand, I had long expected it, and did not at all think she would survive last winter.... I believe she was loved and respected by everyone who knew her, as truly she deserved to be. I feel good consolation in this.... For three years our public doings have been to me so mournful and dreadful-with no power anywhere to stay the madness of the Court and Ministry,-that I have b

at I am certain we must have a nobler future: but that may

affection

. New

he was carrying forward his design of procuring part ownership for England of the Suez Canal. He did not attach sufficient importance to the Bulgarian atrocities to set going any British interference. This in itself is an act which can find no defence. He declared Turkey must be upheld as a stronghold against the aggression of Russia. In the year 1878, Beaconsfield and Lord Salisbury at

upheavals: trade depression in Ireland; and finally, in 1880, cam

Oct.,

ar Nic

al thing. It is excellent. The slight excess of black in the left eye is perhaps quite natural. In a three-quarter face the light does not fall alike on both eyes, and we do not in real life compare a friend's two eyes (they move too quick); we see only one at a time. [F

ne Englishman in a thousand dreams of. In 1881, thus far, I rejoice in the incipient elevation of Greece, and the probable deliverance of Armenia. I think the great Powers will not quarrel over the carcase of Turkey: and though Frenchmen may justly make outcry against French ambition in North Africa, yet as an Englishman and a European I do not regret it. As I see no power but Russia who can impart improved rule to A

affectionat

. New

opies of the following letter to be prin

dear

concerning sudden illness. This is my

er many days of close and continuous writing, I found myself suddenly disabled in my right hand. I could not interpret it as merely muscular. There was no

ot come on in a day, and demands time for cure. Some ten days of cessation have somewhat (but very imperfectly) restored my power of writing; but I must not undertake any tasks at

yours a

is W.

*

it is impossible not to see how very much it has crippled his handwriting; he

Home Rule Party, which was organized to prevent coercion being used, and also to force on England the compulsion of legislating promptly for Ireland the measures demanded by the Nationalists. It was not until 1886 Gladstone brought before Parlia

reland, in succession to Mr. Forster. On 6th May he and Mr. B

of the others about this time. The Numidians were descended from the race from which the modern Berbers are drawn. The

May,

*

rederick Cavendish, and with grief, if with once or twice

Home Rule Party, which was organized to prevent coercion being used, and also to force on England the compulsion of legislating promptly for Ireland the measures demanded by the Nationalists. It was not until 1886 Gladstone brought before Parlia

reland, in succession to Mr. Forster. On 6th May he and Mr. B

of the others about this time. The Numidians were descended from the race from which the modern Berbers are drawn. The

May,

*

at the assassins would aim only at Mr. Burke, who has long been regarded as the perverter of every Viceroy and Secretary; but in mere self-defence they also killed

ay help to reconcile Irish patriots and the Liberal Ministry. To have a common grief is a moral cement. Also it seems to compel Mr. Gladstone to send as Irish Secretary an Irishman,

ne entrenches himself, and blocks u

of Nihilism. It is bad enough, yet

dially in

. New

d sent me a scrap from Paris, in which Rénan avows that until a Numidian dictionary is compiled they

edingly trying for his head, and rendered him more and more dependent on his wife. He had for a long time suffered a great deal from his eyes, and consequently during the last few year

tion: ANN

IT PAINTED BY