LETTERS TO DR. NICHOLSON FROM PROFESSOR NEWMAN DURING THE FOLLOWING YEARS:
1850 TO 1859
The first of special interest in this series of letters is dated March,
1850, and concerns Newman's Latin studies and also Indian and China
affairs.
"Sir Charles Trevelyan is doing his best to introduce the English alphabet
into Indian languages. He believes it, with me, to be of political,
educational, and religious importance; but he seems to be opposed by all
the English scholars. Edwin Norris says that even Sanscrit imported its
alphabet from a foreign tongue. The number of primitive alphabets is so
few, the diversity of languages so great, that nearly all tongues must
have adopted foreign alphabets. I cannot therefore understand the almost a
priori 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 unless we tear the empire in pieces by aiding insurrections, they
must beat us at last, and become masters in the Indian seas. We cannot
contend against three hundred and eighty millions of ingenious,
industrious, homogeneous men under a single monarch with compact country,
splendid rivers and harbours, unsurpassed soil and climate--if once we
drive them to learn the art of war from America, as Peter the Great learnt
it from Europe. But I seem to be _insanus inter sobrios_, for nobody
accepts this thought from me.
"Hearty regards to you all.
"Ever yours,
"F. W. Newman."
It will be remembered that in 1851, though not until December, Louis
Napoleon, nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, had been successful in his aim of
becoming President of the French Republic. But he had practically led his
army through a sea of blood to reach this autocratic position. Later, in
1852, he made the French people designate him "Emperor of the French"
under the title of Napoleon III.
Lord Russell had, with his ministers, brought their time of office to an
end; and Lord Derby came in as Prime Minister at the head of a
Conservative Party. He only remained in office a short time, however, and
his successor was Lord Aberdeen, and Mr. Gladstone was Chancellor of the
Exchequer.
In the letter which follows, Newman vindicates the honour of Kossuth,
whose friend and helper he was when Kossuth came to England for funds to
set going the new Hungarian revolution against Austria. With the views of
Charles Dickens, of course, Newman had not the slightest sympathy.
"7 P.V.E.,
"_19th Dec._, 1851.
"My dear Nicholson,
* * * * *
"I never see Dickens' _Household Narrative_, and therefore cannot answer;
but I do not believe there is any 'alternative side' against Kossuth's
character. (Dickens is, in my judgment, a foolish man; he writes on
centralization and despotism like an Austrian: however, 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 _Times_ has not a word to say against him.
Their libel about the Orphan Fund was at once refuted by Count Ladislaus
Vay, but they would not insert Count Vay's letter, or even acknowledge it.
I think, indeed, the Continental Republicans may be proud of their
leaders.
* * * * *
"Lord Palmerston seems to me to be entangled in _routine_ and old creeds,
so that he does not do all the justice he might to his better wishes; but
I also think he loves _place_ better than to carry out those wishes....
"Ever yours heartily,
"F. W. Newman."
The letter in January, 1853, which is next in order, is largely concerned
with Mazzini. As is well known, Mazzini was an Italian patriot and
Republican, born in the same year as was Newman. When he was 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 sacrifice of his life" in giving
up the study of literature (which he loved) for direct political action.
He joined the Carbonari in 1829, though he was not in sympathy with their
aims or organization.
In 1830 he was imprisoned by the Sardinian police. There, in his prison
cell, he thought out his plan of action for his country, and on being
released he went and organized the "Young Italy Association." The object
of it was to teach the mass of the people first to know their rights, and
then to obtain them. The end of all his efforts for his people as regarded
himself was this:--
In 1832 he was expelled from the country, but he managed to remain hidden
at Marseilles; and from that time for twenty years he led "a life of
voluntary imprisonment within the four walls of a little room." 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 in great measure, and
testified to the worthiness of his noble struggle for his country's
freedom. Later, in 1848, when the Lombard revolt broke out, he took the
part of the revolutionaries with vigour.
In 1852 he planned the revolt at Mantua, and in 1853 at Milan. Others were
set going later. He had started in London (with Kossuth) the European
Association, and issued in September, 1855, its "republican 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 largely influenced their country's
destiny. Garibaldi has been called the knight-errant; Mazzini, the prophet
of Italian unity; and Cavour was the hub which formed the centre of the
wheel of Italy's fortunes.
[Illustration: FACSIMILE OF LETTER FROM FRANCIS NEWMAN, DECEMBER, 1855]
"7 P.V.E.
"Friday night, _28th Jan._, 1853.
"My dear Nicholson,
* * * * *
"As regards Mazzini, I am both glad and sorry. I cannot pretend to know
the _truth_, and fear to say what may unjustly disparage him; but he has
fallen a little in my secret judgment. I am _told_ (and I cannot test the
assertion) that Mazzini wrote to Italy to _implore_ his countrymen to be
patient, and not to make any attempts at resistance, even though the best
among them were slaughtered; and added: But if you will and must make your
attempt _now_, then by all means I shall come--not to conquer with you;
for of that I have no hope--but to die with you. Now I cannot learn
whether this was simultaneously with his writing to tell us that he was in
high hopes of success, and only wanted £3000 to turn probability into
something like certainty. If it was simultaneous, he is not the less
patriot; but he thinks 'the point of honour' requires he should 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 be so valuable. It is not the same
thing to an exile as to a soldier in a rank, for the exile necessarily
comes too late. However, I do not know whether at this instant Mazzini may
be disguised in Italy: he is so retired and so stealthy. I expect he will
(be) betrayed sooner or later, if he plays so bold a game. Nevertheless I
am glad that (for whatever reason) the Italians are still quiet. Louis
Napoleon will certainly sooner or later get embroiled; and unless there
were new facts unknown to me ... I earnestly hope they will wait. The
Germans are a slow people; but they will move in time. Every German I see
believes this.... 'We without them cannot be made perfect,' seems to me
the clue to European oppressions. While stupid barbarism exists in masses,
it will be the tool of tyranny against the more educated and refined and
wealthy....
"Ever yours,
"F. W. Newman."
In November, 1855, he discusses public affairs, with relation to Louis
Napoleon, with Dr. Nicholson:--
"....I should indeed like to have the talk on public affairs which you
suggested; but things have moved on since then! Friends of mine dread that
the difficulties of French finance will precipitate Louis N. into a base
peace. I argue,--it will then be into one so base that the French will not
endure it. For the Russians _know_ the French difficulties; and if
proposals of peace come first from France, or if they see French action
become slacker, they will yield _nothing_, and make sure 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 concessions to the spirit of
freedom, as is usual when great sacrifices are demanded of a nation; or it
may be that he will get through with a struggle, putting French finance on
a healthier footing than has ever been yet. But I think, if he stands, he
_must_ carry on the war; and the more he feels his dangers, the more
vehemently will he resolve to stick at nothing necessary for success, and
will bid high to get Sweden to join us, which means to despoil Russia of
Finland and Poland.
"And if he is overthrown all Italy will rise, and after it Hungary, and
after it Germany and Poland....
"It grieves me much that Kossuth has united his name with Ledru Rollin's;
and altogether I think Kossuth is so _soured_ by the misconduct of the
Western Cabinets as to lose his soundness of judgment and fairness of
reasoning.... Through 1854 his tone became more demagogic, less dignified,
more defiant to authorities. He is now contemptuous to the British
_nation_ also, though I think it has throughout displayed precisely the
sound instinct which 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 the nation since the Russian invasion
of Hungary has practically felt how dangerous to all foreign liberty is
the Russian power, and the absolute necessity of repressing and curtailing
it; and this determination of the people has made the war a reality, has
given power to that side of the Cabinet which alone was willing to go
forward, has displayed itself equally in our lowest distress and our chief
triumph, which Kossuth ought to honour....
"I doubt whether his union with Ledru Rollin is approved by any eminent
Hungarian in England.
"While I regret all this, I yet expect Kossuth to be great again whenever
action in Hungary recommences; but he cannot bear _in_action well; and,
alas! I make no doubt his private resources cannot bear delays. I almost
begin to fear that he _covets_ to be driven publicly to America by our
Government, as less ignominious than being starved into the same step. I
cannot understand ... how he fails to 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 superiority. To have been beaten by the Turks is still _more_
humiliating.... I wonder whether you have any alarm about America. I
_should_ have some alarm if Nicaragua and the Mosquito land were the topic
of quarrel; for I think the Americans would really fight us as a single
nation to hinder us establishing ourselves on American soil _south_ of
them. They sufficiently dislike our _northern_ position....
"Very cordially yours,
"F. W. Newman."
* * * * *
We now pass to Newman's letters in the year 1856; and the first of this
series speaks of the "Harry" who is mentioned elsewhere in this volume, as
having been Professor Alleyne Nicholson, of Aberdeen. He was coming to
stay with Professor Newman during term time:--
"7 P.V.E. R.P.,
"_28th Oct._, 1856.
"The grammar used in University College School is _Key's Grammar_....
Hitherto, no particular Greek Grammar has been used in the school, but
Greek has been taught through _Robson's Constructive Greek Exercises_,
which, I presume, Harry ought at once to work at.... A Greek Grammar by
Mr. Greenwood is expected to be ready by Christmas, and is to be brought
into the school. It will be new _to all_; and Harry will be on a par with
the rest about it.
* * * * *
"_Robson's Constructive Latin Exercises_ ... are used in the school....
Give him" (Harry) "my very kind regards, and say that his little bedroom
here looks to me desolate until he comes; but I cannot flatter him that I
have anything to fill up the emptiness of heart he will feel when 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? He has
so much taste for drawing insects that he cannot fail in outline. We have
a little room which we call 'the boy's room,' where he can put any of his
Natural History collections which you think it well he should try, but we
have _no butterflies to catch,--few even in summer."
* * * * *
At the end of July, Newman went to stay with Dr. Nicholson and his family
at Penrith, and there are one or two notes concerning his journey tither.
The next letter is dated 24th Aug., 1856. He wrote therefore when the
Crimean War was still going forward. That war which, amongst 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 winter and from disease, etc., as
our own--succeeded in taking the Malakoff Tower. This made it impossible
for the Russians to defend Sebastopol any longer, and in March, 1856,
peace was proclaimed. Then followed Russian promises, which were made as
easily as they were broken.
"7 Park Village, East.
"_24th August_, 1856.
"My dear Nicholson,
* * * * *
"Events have proved that Russia, too, painfully knew her own weakness.
Probably he" (Louis Napoleon) "already in December knew that she knew it,
and the war was far too unpopular with the French to be continued except
on a different policy, with new necessities and new prizes to be won. Our
policy from March, 1853, to March, 1855, was so hollow and so silly, that
no wisdom could afterwards bring things right, or make the results of the
war worthy of the cost; but the _comparative_ result in March, 1856, is so
vast a gain over what nine out of ten of our statesmen (so called) were
projecting 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, and it will leak through to the lowest people, I
expect, in the course of a few years. I think Europe has a respite of a
quarter of a century from the incubus of Russia; and _if_ in that interval
the Hapsburgs are overthrown, all will yet come right. I fear we are still
forced again (in spite of Mazzini and Kossuth) to regard the French as
having the initiative of revolutions. I have resolved to give up all extra
and needless effort of the brain, until I can really get rid of certain
morbid symptoms, quite chronic, which distress me, so that my projected
Latin analysis lies in embryo.
"... I have had satisfactory approval of my _Iliad_ from my brother, Dr.
Newman, a fastidious critic and practical poet, as also from other private
quarters which I count much on; but reviews as yet do not notice me.... I
have no high expectation of the very existence of the book becoming known,
except slowly to many who might perhaps be glad of it if they knew it....
"Ever your faithful friend,
"F. W. Newman."
In October of the same year he thus speaks of the School of University
College:--
"... The School of U.C. is remarkably full of pupils this season. My
junior class has unusually _old_ pupils; I do not yet know their quality.
One (a Mr. Sassoon, a Jew?) [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 birth, and talks a little Arab and
Hindostanee, but knows more of English than of any other language. His
English is good, though the pronunciation is a little foreign."
In another letter, written this same month, he speaks of Mazzini as
knowing that the "liberties of Italy cannot be safe without revolution
either in 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 "stupefied." Newman declares that the Governments know, and is the
reason why they "hate Mazzini, since ... success in Italy will cause
explosions elsewhere."
Newman goes on to say: "For myself I look at it thus. The deliverance of
Italy _cannot_ come by Governments (unless these are first
revolutionized); it can only come by insurrection. No one from without can
ever know or judge what is the time for hopeful insurrection: it must be
done from within, and generally without plan. My sole question is, Is the
cause legitimate? 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 bleed the more they are united, and the more
resolved.... My wife is cheered to learn that Harry will go to Mr. Bruce's
on Sunday. A black spot had rested on her heart, I find, from fearing that
he would go _nowhere_ to church. I am sending you a corrected copy of my
translation of the first chorus in _Antigone_, since you honour it by
putting it into your _Sophocles_....
"Ever your affectionate friend,
"F. W. Newman.
"To Dr. J. Nicholson, etc."
Another mention of the translation I also insert here. He had been able to
give far more time to it than if he had been in London, for he had in
September been spending some time at Ventnor. "A youth introduced to me by
Mrs. Pulszky is zealous in the Greek tragedians, and I have been helping
him to a little _Sophocles_ which put me up to translating the 1st Chorus
after I had been reading it with him...."
Here is the translation to which allusion is made:--
"SOPHOCLES, ANTIGONE"
1ST CHORAL SONG
_1st Strophe_
"O ray of the Sun, the fairest
That over the rills of Dirkè
To Thebè the seven-gated
Wast ever of yore unveil'd
The eyelid of heaven gilding;
At length thy splendour on us was shed,
Urging to hasty reverse of rein
The Argive warrior white of shield
And laden in panoply all complete,
Who sped in van of the routed.
Stirr'd from afar against our land
By Polyneikes' doubtful strife,
He like an eagle soaring came,
Screen'd by a wing of snow unstain'd,
With many a stout accoutrement
And horse-hair crested helmets.
_1st Antistrophe_
"At mouth of the portals seven
Above our abodes he hover'd
With lances that yawn'd for carnage;
But vanish'd, afore his chaps
With slaughter of Thebes were glutted;
Afore the flicker of pitchy flame
Might to the crown of turrets climb.
So fierce the rattle of war around
Was pour'd on his rear by the serpent-foe
Hard match'd in deadly encounter.
For Jove the over-vaunting tongue
Supremely hates. Their full fed stream
Of gold, of clatter, and of pride
He saw, and smote with brandish'd flame
Him, who at summit of his goal
Would raise the peal of Conquest.
_2nd Strophe._
"Foil'd in his frantic rush,
Though still with blasts of hate against us raving,
Down dropt he, torch and all,
And heavy struck the Earth, who upward spurn'd him.
Such auspice of the war
To us was fair; and elsewhere new successes
Befel, whereon the right
Great Ares routing wheel'd the chariot-battle.
For, posted at the seven gates,
Equals to equals, seven chiefs
To trophy-bearing Jupiter
Payments of solid brass bequeath'd.
Save that the gloomy-hearted twain,
Sprung from one mother and one sire,
Planted with adverse dint the spear
And earn'd a fate in common.
_2nd Antistrophe_
"But now, since Victory
Mighty of name at length is come, delighted
In car-borne Thebè's joy;
Henceforth forget we battle's past annoyance.
But through the livelong night
Let us in sacred band approach the temples,
And Bacchus to the dance--
The god who shakes the soil of Thebes--be leader.
"But hither Creon, lo! proceeds,
Son of Menoekeus, newly rais'd
The sceptre of this land to sway.
Now at new tokens of the gods,
Methinks, some sage device he plies.
Therefore to special parliament
Hath he by general summons fetch'd
This meeting of the elders."
The next letter largely concerns Persia. And it is necessary to remember
that, in the early part of the nineteenth century, she began, at the
suggestion of France, a most unfortunate war (as regards herself) with
Russia.
In 1826 there was another war, and this cost Persia all the rest of her
possessions in Armenia. The taxation of the people, which the rulers
enforced 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 crowning blow to the fortunes of Persia, for he had been the
only man who had seriously tried to raise his country from the depths to
which she had fallen.
In 1848 the son of the Shah, who had, through the assistance of Britain
and Russia, obtained the throne, came into office, and he resolved to put
forward claims to Afghanistan and Beluchistan. When the ruler of Herat
agreed that the Shah had claims, the English 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 army, commanded by General Outram and Havelock, was sent to
Persia, and defeat after defeat for the Persians followed their arrival,
and in July, 1857, they were compelled to give up Herat. Since then Persia
has not ventured to lay her hand on the "key to India."
"7 P.V.E., London,
"_19th Dec._, 1856.
"Dr. Barth, the African traveller, has been re-seducing (me) into the
Lingua Amazighana, which I had forsworn. I am not sure that something will
not come of it--to me at least. I have already built a castle in the air,
that sometime hereafter I shall become 'Professor of Libyan' to U.C.
* * * * *
"How dreadful is it that we should be able to get into a war with Persia,
proclaimed _at Bombay_ on November 1st, and nobody here knows why it is or
what 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 seen Cobden's recent letters on Maritime War? I
rejoice much in them, and think adversity has improved his tone. With
hearty regards to Mrs. N. and all,
"I am, ever yours,
"F. W. N."
The letters at which we have now arrived are those written during 1857.
The first is dated March, and I quote some passages from it to show the
Professor's own views as regards evening home preparation for boys who are
working at school during the day, because it seems to me that his opinion
in this matter should carry weight:--
"I much dislike a boy having _both_ his work at school and _then_ evening
work at home, when he is getting sleepy and ought to have relaxation. It
is the nuisance of day schools, and quite hurtful to study, 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 that it is very much
to be desired that he should have time for _voluntary_ work. I regard this
as having been very beneficial to _me_ at school, where I never had work
enough set me to fill up half my time."
The letter which follows is dated April, and in it we find that "Harry"
had just returned home, and that his report had testified to his diligence
and progress. At the end of the letter comes this little touch as to some
of the schoolboy belongings which had been left behind in Professor
Newman's house. "Harry has left divers snail-shells fastened on
pasteboard. Perhaps he did not know how to carry them safely."
On 6th May mention of the owner of the snail-shells recurs again:--
"Mrs. Newman was rather disappointed at the unceremoniousness of my
parting with Harry. It seems like a dream his vanishing. I suppose she is
like Hecuba, grieved that she could not make the funeral of Hector. (I did
not even kiss Harry _by proxy_ for her!) Most gladly does she give him up
to Mrs. Nicholson; and yet, I fancy, she wanted a funeral ceremony on
losing him."
Throughout these letters belonging to the year 1857, there is no special
mention of the Indian Mutiny. Yet it is impossible to doubt that it
occupied a great place in Newman's thoughts. No one who has written on
India and our relations with her as he has done, could have failed to have
written his own strong views on the lamentable mismanagement which led to
the Mutiny. But most probably the letters concerning it were either not
kept by Dr. Nicholson, or else Newman asked for them back, 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 meet across it. In this sense it is
the only thing that holds up the picture of the past before our tired
eyes. _Litera scripta manet_ is a living truth. The next letter from
Newman to Nicholson was written on 20th June, 1857. On 8th June of this
year died Douglas Jerrold, dramatist, satirist, and author. Mr. Walter
Jerrold tells us that, in 1852, he had accepted the editorship of _Lloyd's
Weekly Newspaper_. It was said of this that he "found it in the street and
annexed it to literature."
His fortune as a writer began when he was only sixteen. His capacity for
work and his perseverance in working were enormous. In 1825 he wrote 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 well as to
hosts of magazines and political tracts, etc. Newman alludes to Jerrold
being in receipt of £2000 a year from _Lloyd's Weekly News_.
I pass over the discussion as regards the Newmans' proposed visit to the
Lakes, and also his expressed delight in a book, many copies of which he
had just given away--_Intuitive Morals and Religious Duty_.
"In truth, dear friend, I get happier and happier, and only am pent up and
mourn to feel how I live for self alone. I sometimes think with a sort of
envy how your knowledge of medicine and tender heart for young children
puts you into near and kind contact with the poor. However, we have each
his own talent, if only one can find the mode of wisely disposing it.
* * * * *
"I am sorry to see that Douglas Jerrold has not left sixpence to his
family, though he was in receipt of £2000 a year (they say!) from _Lloyd's
Weekly News_."
In November another letter alludes to his Latin translations. He says he
has been gradually inclining to the belief that Terence, Virgil, and
Horace had "damaged" the Latin language in very much the same way as Pope
did the English, as regards arbitrary style and method of writing
cadences.
It is universally conceded that Horace was not a great thinker. As one of
our modern English critics has said: "His philosophy is that of the
market-place rather than of the schools; 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, live anew under his pen.... Before Horace, Latin lyric poetry is
represented almost wholly by the brilliant but technically immature poems
of Catullus; after him it ceases to exist."
As regards Pope, the critics of the end of the eighteenth century
considered his style eminently artificial and forced. But to-day,
according to Father Gasquet, we cannot but recognize his services to
English poetry as invaluable. "He was virtually the inventor 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 portrayals alike of the face of nature and of the
passions of man. He appeals rather to the brain than to the heart. Ideas
and not emotions are his province.... To the metric presentment of ideas
he imparts a charm of musical utterance unachieved before his time."
"_30th Nov._, 1857.
"My dear Nicholson,
* * * * *
"I have of late been urged by a particular circumstance to make various
trials of translation into Latin (lyrical, etc.) verse--an exercise I
always used to dislike, and have never much practised. I now find my
dislike was largely caused by the unsuitable and over-stiff metres which
used to be imposed on me when I was under orders.... In English and Greek
versification I have long been aware of the essential importance of this;
but I have looked on Latin as too inflexible a tongue to be worth the
labour, since nearly all the translations I have seen, pall on me as mere
flat imitations of the ancients instead 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 really a
_folly_ to insist on Horace's restrictions, which are entirely his own,
being neither found in the Greek, which he copied, nor in Catullus; and
which made the problem of _translation_ so much harder (and he did not
translate), that one has to sacrifice too much. I think we ought to
construct our metres by selection from the Greek, just as Catullus or
Horace did, not imitate them slavishly. I send you one specimen of my
translation, to ask whether so many as seven lines together the same is
_too monotonous_. If there were only four or five it would be as one of
Catullus's. I dare say you have the original....
"With truest regards to you all,
"Your cordial friend,
"F. W. Newman."
Pulszky, the friend of Kossuth and also of Francis Newman, was a Hungarian
author, politician, and patriot. In 1848 he was serving under Esterhazy in
some Government post; but when he was suspected of revolutionizing in his
native country, he took refuge in England. Pulszky went with Kossuth 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
most trying form of facial neuralgia which attacks in such paroxysms of
severe pain--attacks which seem brought on by the most trivial reasons,
such as a knock at the door or by a sudden shake to the chair on which the
patient is sitting, and which, as a rule, give no warning of their
approach.
"My dear Nicholson,
"You remember that you kindly furnished me with your prescription for _tic
douleureux_ to give to my friend Pulszky. He told me a few days back that
he sent it (I think a year ago) to the poor girl at Ventnor who was a
horrible sufferer from it, and heard no more of it until 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 second time take the trouble to copy out the
prescription I will keep it myself, and give copies to my friends without
further coming upon you.... I have ventured to assert that the Nicholson
who is so talked of as promoting the ballot in Australia is _not_ your
brother Mark.
"Do you know, when I saw in the _Illustrated London News_ the face of the
late lamented Brigadier Nicholson of the Punjaub, I thought it _very_ like
you. Is he possibly a distant relative?
"Ever yours heartily,
"F. W. Newman,
"7 P.V.E."
"_20th December_, 1857.
This remark of Newman's that he saw a strong likeness in "the face of the
late lamented Brigadier Nicholson of the Punjaub" to his friend Dr.
Nicholson is one of those arresting suggestions which seem to strike
sudden light out of the flints of ancestry which whiten the road of life
along which we have come.
That there _is_ a distinct likeness in the two faces no one who had seen
the portraits in Captain Lionel Trotter's _Life of John Nicholson_, and
then looked at that 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, if one tries to trace the lineage and
land of the families of Nicholson in years gone by. I quote the following
from Captain Trotter's _Life of John Nicholson_:--
"In the days of our Tudor sovereigns the family of which John Nicholson
was to be the bright particular star had made their home in the border
county of Cumberland." He goes on to say that the first to come over to
Ireland was Rev. William Nicholson (in 1589), and he married the Lady
Elizabeth Percy. Captain Trotter says there is a tradition that his two
brothers went over to Ireland with William Nicholson. One settled in
Derry, 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
became of this Mrs. Nicholson does not appear. "Her son William, during
his sojourn in Cumberland, had become a Quaker." This was very probably
due to his having been influenced by his intercourse with George Fox.
Later on the former went back to Cranagill. There were three sons born to
this William Nicholson, and Captain Trotter tells us that it was from the
eldest (also a "William") that the famous John Nicholson was descended.
Now, it seems to me that it is not at all unlikely that there may have
been some connection (as Francis Newman suggested) between the branch of
the Nicholson family to which John Nicholson, of Mutiny fame, was related,
who made their home in the "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 himself lived for a
great number of years at Penrith, in Cumberland. So that, all things
considered, perhaps Newman's conjecture, after he had realized how strong
a resemblance there was in his friend's face to that of the hero of Delhi,
was correct.
The next letters belong to the year 1858. In August, 1858, Newman was
again devoting much time to Latin versification:--
"My chief time this summer has been employed in a new _furor_--Latin
versification. I find that by choosing and adapting metres from the Greek
fountain and not sticking to Horace, or even to Catullus, the language
admits of translation from English closer than I at all conceived. 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. Perhaps not really worse
than in prose translation, but every metre (or almost every) deprives you
at once of a sensible fraction of the already scanty vocabulary. One
learns also how essentially clumsy and prosaic the language is in its
vocabulary, though so compact in its structure.
"The Atlantic Telegraph, no doubt, already excites wild and impatient
hopes in our Australians, of which you will hear an echo. It is indeed a
critical event, as determining an immense extension of the telegraphic
system....
"Ever yours heartily,
"F. W. Newman."
It will be remembered that the Crimean War broke up the Coalition Ministry
which Lord Aberdeen had formed. This was due to the fact that the motion
for enquiry into the state of our soldiers before Sebastopol was carried
by a great majority against the Government. Lord Aberdeen resigned when
this happened, and Lord Palmerston came into office, with Mr. 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 attempt in 1858, upon
Napoleon III's life. Perhaps it is necessary to recall here that Gladstone
had taken up the cause of the prisoners--especially political prisoners--
in the prisons of Naples in 1851. He spoke strongly on the terrible
cruelties which were perpetrated there. In _this_ effort to help forward
an enquiry Gladstone threw himself most heartily.
* * * * *
"I send you to-day a Latin Grammar which I have found on my shelves. By
the _binder's_ ticket 'Penrith' I infer it to be Harry's. I hope I may
congratulate him.... I never met 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 clear of the
errors of his youth and was 'the coming man.' But in the Russian war his
intense party spirit and endless mistakes have lowered his ...
intellectual discernments.
* * * * *
"I am, ever yours heartily,
"F. W. Newman."
In December of this year Newman writes word that he has been working hard
at Arabic for some time, because he has undertaken to teach a friend
modern Arabic. He is again staying at Hastings, where he had been so
constantly.
"20 White Rock Place, Hastings,
"_30th Dec._, 1858.
"My dear Nicholson,
* * * * *
"I am strangely thrown anew into sympathy with _your_ studies. I have been
working really hard at Arabic for some time--and why, do you think?
Because I had the temerity to undertake (for philological reasons) to
teach a friend modern Arabic. 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 surprised at
the extent of my former attainments, very much indeed of which I had
forgotten. But words come back to me with a pleasant rapidity, and I am
delighted to find how much I have exaggerated to myself the gap between
old and new Arabic."
With this letter those belonging to the year 1858 come to an end.
With 1859 begin Newman's criticisms on the policy and unscrupulous methods
of Louis Napoleon.
The latter had made himself absolute ruler of France in 1851. Later on he
annexed Savoy and Nice. In his campaign in Lombardy against Austria he was
assisted by Great Britain. In May, when this letter following was written,
Napoleon's Manifesto had just been published in the London papers of 4th
May:--
"10 Circus Road, S. John's Wood,
"_5th May_, 1859.
* * * * *
"I dare say you read Louis Napoleon's Manifesto in yesterday's papers. I
wonder what you think of it. I find myself at variance with most of my
friends, and with nearly all the newspapers _that I see_; but the _Morning
Chronicle_ and the _Daily News_, of which I have only seen _one_ article
for a long time back, appeared to be maintaining what I hold. That we
ought to be strictly neutral (not armed and threatening neutrals) seems to
be an axiom; but at the same time I look at the crisis with much hope and
little or no fear. To declaim against L. N.'s treachery is only a way of
playing into the wrong hands, i.e. supporting Austria. He has pledged
himself to expel her from 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 aggrandizement to Sardinia. Lombardy,
Tuscany, and Parma seem inevitably to rush into Victor Emmanuel's arms, if
not also Venice, if the Confederates are victorious. Hence a stout power
is interposed between France and Southern Italy. And is it not stupid to
think that because L. N. is a bad, unscrupulous man, therefore he covets
nothing but _territory_? He covets _stability_ and the glory of liberating
Italy; and acting with heroic moderation is the obvious way of winning to
his side republicans in France and the diplomatists of Europe. _If_ he
acts thus, I think his dynasty will be permanent; if not, not, or hardly.
The Papists already hate him, and he already distrusts them...."
It is impossible to read many letters of Newman's and not recognize the
unfailing unselfishness with which he constantly gives up his own plans of
seeing his friends, in order that 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 researches
because he knows how great would be her ennui were she to accompany him,
and he is ever full of a tender concern that she shall suffer no
unnecessary discomfort or trouble.
"_13th July_, 1859.
"My dear Nicholson,
"I had really hoped we might spend a few days at Penrith and have a chance
of seeing you, for my wife talked seriously of Keswick and the
neighbourhood. 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 seaside, and especially the coast of Wales. So now we are starting
for Carmarthen, Cardigan, Aberayron, Aberystwith, etc., a weary distance
from Penrith.
"I told you I had undertaken the daring task of teaching modern Arabic
(somehow) to a young lady. My lessons began in October (the second week),
and ended with the second week of March, being broken by Christmas. About
a fortnight ago she sent me a written exercise, in which I corrected a few
grammatical faults, 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 affairs. The pamphlet of Napoleon
III on Italy shows that in 1857 he definitely proposed to Austria a scheme
for the total secularization of the Papacy. I now feel sure he will not
stop at that. It also advocates a federation of all Italy--a wonderful
proposal from a French ruler. No democrat would have proposed that."
In September he writes from Aberystwith, and relates how he is busy
translating _Robinson Crusoe_ from the Arabic.
"I am constantly reminded of you by the study which I have been rather
closely pursuing here for nearly eight weeks, viz. the reading of
_Robinson Crusoe_ in Arabic. It is to me often difficult from 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 changed the details of
Robinson's story, and makes it often incoherent and stupidly impossible;
so that neither does the original help me much, nor can I rest on internal
congruity to help me out."
It should perhaps be remembered here that the Arabs had a great contempt
for the Grecian and Roman languages. Their own language was only printed
in ancient classical form, of which the Korân is the most famous 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 own words own patronymity
from the Arabic languages--words such as algebra, alcohol, zenith, nadir,
etc. These show clearly that the language did influence early intellectual
European culture in no small degree.
To go on with the letter:--
"I am greatly encouraged by my success in understanding it" [the story of
_Robinson Crusoe_ in Arabic], "for it is a far more ambitious style and on
far more various topics than I have ever before encountered; and when I
get my Golin's I expect to get to the bottom 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 me unintelligible. I suspect it is elliptical and allusive, and
it occurs to me that it may be familiar to you; if so, I know you will
have pleasure in explaining it to me. Whenever Robinson falls into
distress and betakes himself to prayer, I meet these words:--
[Arabic]
and then follows the matter of sorrow. I also three times meet [Arabic] at
the end of a sentence, where the meaning seems to be _et alia ejusdem
generis_. I suppose it is an abridgment by initial letters. Can you help
me to a solution? We 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.... Probably, like all the world and his
wife, you are yourself just now absent from home.... Do you not with me
see that the Italians already are showing how vast a benefit L. N. has
brought them? It is only the beginning of a vast revolution.
"I am, ever your true friend,
"F. W. Newman."