The first letter from Francis Newman to Martineau, from which I quote, is dated December, 1850, from Brighton:-- _Dr. Martineau from Newman._ "I seem to be out of joint with you in the two highest interests of man-- Religion and Politics ... I am ... become a Republican by principle, for the continent Jefferson always held that constitutional monarchy was a simple impossibility in a large continental country where great armies were kept up; and I think the history of a millennium in Europe demonstrates it. All royalties were in their origin constitutional; but in the long run no dynasty ever resisted the temptation to overthrow the barriers which fenced it in. _Our_ liberties seem to me rightly ascribed to the fact that we are insular, and need only a _navy_ for protection. Sweden for the same reason is able to retain its liberties.... I think that in the order of Providence, royal power has served the purpose of uniting nations in larger masses than would else have held together. "Where it has done this without destroying municipal organization it is clearly good in its result--as in Great Britain, Sweden, Germany; ... but having served this function, it seems to me that Royalty (unless it could again become elective) has done its work, and ought not to be regretted.... On doctrinaire grounds, either to unsettle it where it works well, or to desire to enforce it where it has violated its pledges and forfeited all claims to love and devotion, seems to me a mistake similar in kind. * * * * * "Must not a time of weakness come when Austria is bankrupt--when an Emperor of Russia is a dotard or a child, when provinces of Russia become disaffected, or an army mutinies; or again, when France and Austria seriously fall out?... You see I am dosing you with some of my most pungent stuff, in proof that I trust your strength of stomach ... "Your affectionate friend, "FRANCIS W. NEWMAN." In the letter which follows, Newman touches on two well-known personalities of his day--Frederica Bremer and Charles Kingsley. He mentions the fact of his having been engaged to meet Kossuth as the reason why the first attempt to meet Miss Bremer was unsuccessful. It will be remembered that Miss Bremer came to England in order to collect material for her _Life in the Old World_. (This year was also the date of Kossuth's first visit to our shores.) Miss Bremer was Swedish by descent, but Finnish by birth, for she was born in Finland in the year 1801.