ROBERT DALE OWEN AND PROFESSOR FELTON, PRESIDENT OF HARVARD COLLEGE.
MASTERLY LETTER FROM MR. OWEN.
Although not directly connected with the affair of the Harvard
Professors, yet it comes in natural sequence to the preceding chapter
for me to mention that, after the appearance of Robert Dale Owen's
"Footfalls on the Boundary of Another World," Professor Felton, who
burned with angry zeal against Spiritualism, wrote him a letter (April
13, 1860), which was slow in reaching its destination. Mr. Owen, having
written a reply to it, requested Felton's permission to publish the
former with the latter; a request which was declined on the ground that
"the letter was hastily written, and intended only for your eyes."
The letter referred to was a fair sample of the sort of criticism which
he wrote on the subject, and which he was willing to retail out to
others, and then decline to face any fair discussion with a highly
honorable opponent, at least his equal in public and social position,
who had unanswerably answered his bitterly libellous language. It is
open to question whether Mr. Owen's delicacy was not excessive in
respecting the privacy of Professor Felton's volunteered letter of
controversial attack upon his book, and whether he would not have been
perfectly justified in publishing it, as he asked permission to do, side
by side with the masterly reply which it elicited. This reply, which
I now proceed to publish, will suffice to show how little the Harvard
dignitary, however learned in Greek, was a match in logical controversy
for Mr. Owen, who had been a distinguished member of Congress, and who
had recently vacated the post of U. S. Minister at the court of Naples.
The Professor stated that he had fully "investigated the subject both
in this country and in Europe, and that the conclusion at which he had
arrived was that the alleged physical phenomena, such as moving of
tables without the ordinary application of physical force, _never
take place_ under conditions which absolutely prevent the action of
delusion or fraud." He is not the only man who has claimed to have
"investigated," when he has visited a few mediums with the eyes of his
mind so shut and sealed with hostile prejudice that what he calls his
investigation had been but an idle farce.
Then again, in the same letter, he declares, in relation to the
investigation in Boston, that "the whole thing failed, failed utterly."
I refrain from designating this as it deserves. I refer my readers to
the history of that sham investigation for them to give it its proper
designation. He knew the statement was not true of the manifestations
during the investigation, if his own committee could be believed. The
letter says, "If I ever have time I shall prepare a volume on the
subject."
He did not, however, have time before he followed the course of Nature,
and he has now found out for himself many things not falling within the
scope of his studies as Professor of Greek, which he did not know
before.
After this outpouring, he goes on to sanction the same thing in
Christian Revelation. He says the cases are different. Yes, we have the
absolute facts here, and that is better than those of long ago. The fact
is, Prof. Felton never gave it one hour of fair investigation.
Though Prof. Felton refused permission for the publication of his
letter, I am under no restraint for the publication of Mr. Owen's
masterly reply to it; with which, as it has not before been published
(to my knowledge), I am glad to be able to enrich this volume.
"PHILADELPHIA, November 12, 1860.
"MY DEAR SIR:
"It was only on my recent return from Europe that I had the pleasure of
receiving your letter of the thirtieth of April last. I have since given
to its strictures the earnest consideration to which the character and
standing of the writer and his friendly tone justly entitle them.
"If, on a careful review, I had found cause to believe that the tendency
of my work is such as you represent, it would be little consolation
to feel that it was prompted by those good intentions which you are
candid and courteous enough to ascribe to me. Prudence, painstaking
discrimination, severe scrutiny of evidence, especially for the novel or
the extraordinary, are, in an author, duties as imperative as good faith
and uprightness; nor should he escape reprehension by pleading the one,
if it appear that he has neglected the others.
"But my conscience acquits me of neglecting, save by exceptional
inadvertence, reasonable precautions. That these may, in some cases,
have proved unavailing, is the lot of human effort. So far, however,
after ten months' probation, I have had doubts cast upon a single
narrative only, out of the seventy or eighty which my volume contains;
and it is to the credit of your sagacity that the story thus discredited
is that of the Livonian Schoolteacher, the very one to the evidence for
which you chiefly take exception. It was part of my business in visiting
Europe to test a case, to the conflicting evidence regarding which,
about three months after the publication of 'Footfalls,' my attention
was called by a friend; and as my inquiries, though they showed some
foundation for the story, tended to discredit its details, I did what
duty required of me; I omitted in the English edition, recently issued,
and in the tenth American edition, the story in question, adding an
explanatory note, and substituting a narrative entitled 'The Two
Sisters,' relative to a similar phenomenon, and of which a copy is
herewith inclosed. You will find the names of the two witnesses
initialized only; but I am authorized by these ladies to communicate to
you, if you desire to follow up the case, their names--neither unknown
nor little esteemed--and their residence, within a day's easy journey of
Cambridge.
"In two of the narratives, the 'Wynyard apparition' and 'Gaspar,' I have
obtained and inserted in the latest editions important additional
vouchers.
"You have not, as you inform me, the 'slightest hesitation in rejecting
the entire mass of the stories.' Forgive me if I say, that I admire your
boldness more than your discretion. Abercrombie, in his 'Intellectual
Powers,' vouches ('Footfalls,' pp. 151, 163, 181, 204) for several of
the most remarkable. John Wesley relates (p. 225), and Dr. Adam Clarke
and the poet Southey indorse (p. 238) another; Goethe is sponsor for
one (p. 197); sceptics like Mackay (p. 255) and Macnish (p. 155) for a
second and third; Mrs. Senator Linn for a fourth (p. 455); Dr. Bushnell
for a fifth (p. 459); William Howitt and his amiable wife for several
more (pp. 170, 171, 373); Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Hall for two of the most
interesting (pp. 447, 463). At least a dozen are attested by clergymen
of unimpeached character. If all these names seem to you irresponsible,
and if you refuse credit, unless men be 'put on the stand and under
the solemnity of an oath,' that species of evidence also, the highest
known to the law, I have furnished. The facts touching the Mompesson
disturbances were officially proved in court (p. 221); so, before the
sheriff of Edinburgh, were those which tormented Captain Molesworth
(p. 254); so, above all, were the phenomena of the Cideville Parsonage,
running through two months and a half. In this last case I have given
(pp. 275 to 282) the sworn testimony of _eleven_ witnesses taken down,
as the French forms of law require, in writing, read over to each
witness, and its accuracy attested by the signature of each. Among these
witnesses were the mayor of the town, the Marquis de Mirville, well
known as an author of repute, a neighboring lady of rank and her son,
and three clergymen. The mayor swears that he saw the shovel and tongs
move from the fireplace into the room, no one touching them or near
them; that, having replaced them, the same thing happened a second time,
'while the witness had his eyes on them, so as to detect any trick.' The
Curate of Saussy saw a 'hammer fly, impelled by an invisible force, from
the spot where it lay, and fall on the floor without more noise than if
he had placed it there.' All testify to phenomena, and especially to
knockings, as marvellous as any which American Spiritualism claims.
Monsieur de Saint Victor deposes that 'he felt convinced, that if every
person in the house had set to work, together, to pound with mallets on
the floor, they would not have produced such a racket' (p. 280). Not one
of the witnesses, placed under such solemn responsibilities, 'shrinks
from repeating the monstrous story.'
"The Cideville wonders, thus attested by evidence strong enough to
hang a dozen men, far exceed those of Hydesville. Are you prepared to
pronounce these eleven witnesses (and as many more, whose testimony
I have omitted, and who swear to the same incidents) to be, as you
declared the Foxes, 'wretched cheats, contemptible and dishonest'? Did
they, too, palm 'unscrupulous frauds on deluded people'? Have you not
the 'slightest hesitation' in setting down persons of character and
station as wilful perjurers?--nay, as motiveless perjurers? Or were
they, one and all, deluded? Were the impressions their senses received
due only to 'ill-regulated imaginations'? What sort of imagination is
it that would persuade two men that a table which they sought, by main
force, to prevent from moving, did move, without conceivable cause, in
spite of their efforts? (p. 280.) Do people imagine 'such a clatter
in the room that one can hardly endure it'?--or that 'every piece of
furniture there was set in vibration'?--or such a pounding that the
witness 'expected every moment that the floor of the apartment would
sink beneath his feet'? (p. 280.)
"You take me to task for narrating on insufficient testimony. If the
rules of evidence which I have applied in the Mompesson case, in the
Wesley case, in the Cideville case, and I will add in that of the
Rochester Knockings, are to be rejected as untrustworthy, then not
only shall we sink back to scepticism in all history and (as far as
historical evidence goes) in all religion, but proof will fail us, in
all our courts of justice, alike to acquit the innocent and condemn the
guilty.
"I do not allege that all the narratives in my book are equally well
authenticated. The Stilling story, for example (p. 317), may be taken
as apocryphal. That of the 'Surgeon's Assistant' (p. 325) has not been
verified by me. 'The Rescue' (p. 333) came to me, thirty years after
it happened, at second hand. But in these and in all similar examples
throughout the book, where the nature of the case did not admit of
evidence at first hand, I have specially called the attention of the
reader to that fact. Nor, if one or more of these stories should
prove to be without foundation, would it be just, for that cause, to
discredit the others. The '_ex uno disce omnes_' argument is not
applicable here. Each narrative ought to be judged independently, by its
own evidence. It is a sound maxim in law, that the superfluous does not
invalidate the essential.
"I may add that, if in one example I have negligently omitted
corroborative inquiries, I am not in the habit of sparing pains to
authenticate a narrative. You imagine that I have been satisfied with
the reports in Spiritual papers about the 'Electric girl.' I spent a
week in Paris in procuring the original documents in that case and
embodying them in my narrative. A small portion only of these is
contained in the 'Comptes Rendus.' The authentic details have never yet
been given to the American public. They are of great interest in a
scientific point of view.
"You assume that such men as Arago regard clairvoyance as mere trickery.
Arago, in 1853, expressly said ('Footfalls,' p. 23) that 'somnambulism
ought not to be rejected _a priori_, especially by those who have kept
up with the progress of modern science;' and he admitted ('Footfalls,'
p. 68) that 'psychology may one day obtain a place among the exact
sciences.' Cuvier went further. He conceded ('Footfalls,' p. 68) the
principle lying at the base of Mesmerism.
"Inasmuch as my book treats only of spontaneous phenomena, not of those
that are evoked, I have therein said nothing of the Foxes, except in
connection with the narrative of what, in the olden time, would have
been called the 'haunted house' of Hydesville; one of a class of which
I have given numerous other older examples. Now, however, having been
afforded by the sisters ample opportunity to investigate the rappings
and other manifestations alleged to occur in their presence, I am
ready, after warning, to go farther, and to say that, whatever the true
character of these phenomena, I see no reason whatever for ascribing
them to imposture. Nothing came to light in the course of this
investigation other than what bore, to my mind, the impress of an honest
desire to be freed, by rigid tests of fair dealing, from all blame. I
never rest my opinion of character or motive upon report when I can have
opportunity of personal verification. Such opportunity, which in this
case I believe you have not had, I am enabled now to offer you. I am
authorized by Mrs. Underhill (formerly Leah Fox) and by her husband (a
gentleman of New York who has been, for seventeen years, secretary of
one of the principal insurance offices in Wall Street), to say that,
though Mrs. Underhill has not for some years sat as a professional
medium, and has resolved not again to do so, she is willing, in the
interests of truth, to afford you, during the university vacation, or
at other time when your leisure serves, all reasonable facilities for
strict investigation.
"I pray it may not be understood that I urge you to accept this offer. I
think, indeed, that such an investigation is not unworthy either of your
character or of mine. But I am no propagandist; and I have observed that
if there be nothing within which moves us to undertake such inquiries,
they seldom afford satisfaction or eventuate in useful results.
"You speak of my book as 'ill-judged and mischievous,' as 'furnishing
aid to hosts of deceivers,' and you think it, 'in the present state of
intellectual and moral disorder' on the subjects of which it treats,
'peculiarly dangerous.'
"Truth, unless prematurely urged (John xvi. 12), is never ill-judged or
mischievous. I did not go in search of this subject. It came up in the
course of human events, and doubtless at the proper time and for a
good purpose. I found it already controlling the belief of hundreds of
thousands, engaging the attention of millions. This, if it presented no
other claims, appeared to me to entitle it, before judgment pronounced,
to diligent and respectful inquiry. Thus inquiring, I perceived, as you
have done, 'intellectual and moral disorders' not unfrequently following
in the train of its influence; yet, looking at it more closely, I became
convinced that it produced good as well as evil.
"Surveying the ground further, I found the arena occupied chiefly by
partisans; some of these (shall I include yourself?) delving the good;
others, in their hasty enthusiasm, overlooking the evil. The former
seemed to me to forget that it is not by despising error that we correct
it; the latter, that the new and the untried often run into error and
extravagance.
"Desiring, after twenty years of public life, some more tranquil and
philosophical field of labor, I discovered none which appeared to
promise more useful results than this. If, as you allege, 'all the
phenomena are due to two, and only two sources--delusion and imposture,'
these should be detected and exploded, as by carefully prosecuted
researches every delusion and every imposture can be. If, as I believe,
there be a foundation of truth underlying them, still there is
imperative demand for the exercise of prudence and the precautions of
due regulation. Lacking these, a source of good may eventuate in evil.
Even if the phenomena, wisely followed up, may elevate morality and
fortify religion, yet if these marvels are permitted to spread among
us without chart or compass whereby to steer our course through an
unexplored ocean of mystery, we may find ourselves at the mercy of very
sinister influences.
"As to the general question at issue between yourself and me, you admit
the reality of Spiritual influences directly exerted by God upon human
intelligence. So far as, from the Creator's work, we may judge His modes
of action, these are mediate and by ministering agencies, not by direct
intervention. "Why, then, should we regard the hypothesis of Spiritual
interposition (Hebrews i. 14) as a baseless superstition?
"You further admit the occurrence, though only in Christ's day, of
Spiritual intercourse. But a dispassionate survey of the economy of
the universe tends to the conviction that no great law of action ever
shows itself, for a brief season, thereafter to disappear forever. And
Scripture, instead of thus restricting Spiritual phenomena, intimates
(Mark xvi. 17, 18) their continuance.
"Guided by such general views, I published 'Footfalls.' Its prompt
sale and its favorable reception have been my least rewards. Tokens of
sympathy and of gratitude contain the greater. A mother, deprived by
death of her favorite child, and refusing to be comforted because he was
not, confesses that she has been indebted to its pages for healthy and
hopeful views of death, renovated spirits, courage to labor and to
wait. A sceptic into whose hands the volume fell a few weeks before his
decease, requests that, after he is gone, I may be informed that to
that volume, and especially to its chapter on the 'Change at Death,' he
owed the revolution of a life's opinions, and the first consolatory
conviction which had ever reached him that there was a fairer and a
better world toward which he was fast hastening.
"'By their fruits ye shall know them,' said the great Author of our
religion. Do not fruits like these indicate a good tree? And if the
chief narratives contained in my book may be trusted, what are their
teachings? That not an effort to store our minds or school our hearts,
made here in time, but has its result and its reward hereafter in
eternity. But what motive to exertion in good can be proposed to man
more powerful than such an assurance?
"These are my reasons for still believing, notwithstanding your opinion
of my work, that it is of wholesome tendency.
"Time, the great teacher, will decide between us. Ten years--probably
less--will see the question determined whether the Spiritual hypothesis
is destined to grow in favor and assume station as a reality, or to sink
into discredit, as a mere figment of the brain. I am content to bide the
event.
"Meanwhile, following my convictions of the useful, I propose next year
(unless ere then I pass to another phase of existence where much that is
now obscure will doubtless be made plain) to follow up my first work by
another; and therein I purpose to examine what I have not yet touched
upon; namely, the progress and character of what go by the name of
'Spiritual manifestations.' I purpose to investigate first their verity,
then their influence; to inquire under what aspects they have proved
injurious, and under what beneficial to mankind; how far they may be
usefully prosecuted, and at what point they become prejudicial or
unsafe.
"This second volume, like the first, shall contain many materials, some
suggestions, few opinions. On such a subject as this, dogmatism, whether
in affirming or denying, is unpardonable. There is, perhaps, no human
inquiry, as to which Bacon's wise aphorism is more applicable: 'If a man
will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be
content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.'
"If even the opinions and suggestions I may offer should fail in
accuracy, the materials will remain valuable, if care and industry may
avail judiciously to select them. From these each reader can deduce
his own conclusions; and thus, perhaps, such incidental puzzles as the
seeming investment with clothing of apparitions may be relieved from the
imputation of absurdity, if they do not find full solution.
"A word, in conclusion, as to the alleged abandonment of what is called
Spiritualism by certain persons named by you. You adduce the reported
defection of such seceders as conclusive argument against the cause they
desert. But it proves nothing, except, perhaps, that one extreme often
results in its opposite. If these men, forsaking common sense, ran off
into wild extravagance, little wonder that they repented. And if their
case be otherwise, their secession, if secede they did, has still no
weight. Weak men adopt opinions, and again discard them, alike on
insufficient evidence. We sometimes turn back, confused, in the very
path of progress. Du Fay, the discoverer of the fact that there are two
kinds or states of electricity, repudiated his own brilliant discovery.
"I am, my dear sir,
"Faithfully yours,
"ROBERT DALE OWEN.
"PRESIDENT C. C. FELTON."[13]
[13] To this letter Prof. Felton never made any published reply.
A letter from him, bearing date seven days after that of Mr. Owen,
is before me (or rather a copy of it which Mr. Owen allowed Mr.
Underhill to make); but, while perfectly civil and friendly,
it bears on its face the evidence of a virtual prohibition of
publication, saying that it was so hastily written that it was
despatched without reperusal, and that his other duties left him
no time for public controversy on this subject. I need only say
that it was mainly made up of slashing and sweeping generalities
against Spiritualism, which Mr. Owen would have had not
the slightest difficulty in confuting--and in confuting so
triumphantly that the learned Greek professor of Harvard would not
have had a rag left to cover the nakedness of the "_absurdum_" to
which he would have been reduced by Owen's superior brain and pen.
A further appeal against publication was clearly involved in a
remark that he contemplated some future publication of a volume on
the subject. Mr. Owen therefore could do no more than await the
promised volume, but the purpose was never carried into effect;
which is much to be regretted, since its non-appearance costs
to the literature of Spiritualism a third volume (this time
controversial), which would have constituted a precious sequel to
Mr. Owen's two great works, the "Footfalls on the Boundary of
another World," and "The Debatable Land." The two gentlemen (both
of whom I knew) have now passed beyond that Boundary, and beyond
all further Debate about that Land, where we shall all soon find
them, I doubt not, now excellent friends to the cause of
Spiritualism, as well as to each other.--ED.
I may add that Mr. Owen, in the summer of 1859, while residing with us,
engaged upon his first book (the "Footfalls"), obtained the willing
consent of Mr. Underhill and myself, to invite Prof. Felton to come and
accept the hospitality of our home at 232 W. 37th Street, for a
fortnight or as much shorter or longer a period as he might favor us
with his stay; as a means of receiving daily and hourly evidences of all
he should like to investigate. Prof. Felton declined the invitation. The
invitation proved at least our willingness to submit to such an
exhaustive investigation. What disposition its non-acceptance indicated
on the other side, in regard to a question which is confessedly one of
supremest vital importance to all mankind, it is not for me to say, but
rather to leave to the judgment of those who may do me the honor of
being my readers.