"I wonder how you and Mr. Kingsley look on Mr. Gladstone. I never condemned his _measure_, though I have always (for years back) declined to aid a Parliament for all Ireland and _still more_ the expulsion of Irish deputies from the English Parliament.... But I did not intend here to enter Irish politics further than to indicate that while I am anti- Gladstonian, I cry 'Ireland for the Irish,' 'India for the Indians,' 'Egypt for the Egyptians,"--_come what may_ to the English 'Empire'! [But I have never read in history of any empire being ruined or harmed by Justice, Mercy, or Purity.] "I suppose I must say, 'Alas!' that the older I become [81 last June] the more painfully my creed outgrows the limits of that which the mass of my nation, and those whose co-operation I most covet, account _sacred_. I dare not (unasked) send to friends what I print, yet I uphold the _sacred moralities_ of Jew and Christian [Hindoo and Moslem] with all my heart. Two mottos, or say _three_, suffice me:-- "The Lord reigneth. "The righteous Lord loveth righteousness. "The Lord requireth Justice, Mercy, and Sobriety of thought, not ceremony or creed. "Accept for all of you my warm wishes. "Your Vegetarian friend of old, "F. W. Newman." [No date. Probably _1st March_, 1888.] "My dear Friend, "What a violent winter it has been in very many places! Nor is it all over. After the awful 'blizzard' in New York, and its minor horrors elsewhere, and the many fatal avalanches, I see this morning fresh inundations in Hungary from sudden melting of snow. The sudden chill which smote your husband was but a mild type, it seems, of the death fatal to so many. Other deaths from cold, reported to us, have reminded us of your great and sudden loss; yet what had I to say to you? I have thought that the echo from your son in Calcutta may have made your grief break out afresh.... I trust that time, which has not yet at all had softening powers, has not added any fresh bitterness on a fuller realization.... "Affectionately yours, "F. W. Newman." "Alas! my dear friend, that your generous son Leonard had not more experience how vain is a man's swimming power against the current of an _ordinary_ river. I have known this in the Tigris, in the Nile, and even in the Thames, though the bathing men in several places called me a first- rate swimmer. Longfellow in 'Hiawatha' has touching and powerful lines on _disasters never coming singly_, but as vultures accumulating round a huge carcass. "Wisdom comes too late for the individual; yet it is not useless for _others_ to inquire after causes. Did your husband pride himself on not wearing a specially thick coat in winter and _roughing_ it as do some vegetarians?... I rather believe that man is a tropical animal, hairless, made for a climate warmer than ours, and needing much aid from clothing. "Ever yours, "F. W. Newman. "Herewith I return your interesting scraps. "_21st March_, 1888."