... I go off rapidly as a correspondent; there is no use blinking
the fact. I am so slow and write so badly! and leave off _too_
tired. Oddly enough, this very week one of the _Daily News_
authorities has been uttering a groaning longing for my pen in
the service of that paper, as of old. The occasion is a short
letter of mine in last Thursday's paper, which you may have
seen.[25] If so, you will see that I had no choice. W. E. Forster
was at Fox How; and I got Jenny to carry the volume of Brougham
(vol. iii. p. 302) to consult Forster and Arnolds about what I
should do, W. E. Forster being in the same line of business with
my father, and a public man--man of the world. He was clear: it
was impossible to leave my father under a false imputation of
having failed. And when my letter appeared, he was delighted with
it; so are those of my family that I have heard from; and, above
all, _Daily News_ editors. They hope and believe it will excite
due distrust of Brougham's representations, and encourage others
to expose his falsehoods. His suppressions are as wonderful as
his disclosures; _e.g._ the very important crisis in his career,
known by the name of the "Grey Banquet" at Edinburgh, he cuts
completely out of the history of the time--perverting Lord
Durham's story as well as his own. I can see how the false story
of me and mine got made; but enough of that--especially if you
have _not_ seen the letter in the _Daily News_. Forster is kindly
and quiet, but he is altered. He is now--the Courtier!--and odd
sort of one, with much Quaker innocence and prudence in it; but
of a sort which leaves me no hope of _his_ handling of his
Education measure. There will be such a fight! and the
Nonconformists are right, and know that they are. You will
probably see _that_ achieved--a real National Education
established, secular and compulsory.
[25] Refuting a statement made in Lord Brougham's
_Autobiography_ that her father had failed in business.
The Ambleside surgeon, who had undertaken, in acccordance with Harriet
Martineau's will, to prepare and transmit her skull and brain to Mr.
Atkinson, died in the year 1872. The following letter shows that the
progress of time had in no way diminished her willingness to leave her
head for scientific investigation:
AMBLESIDE, April 23, '72.
(Shakespere's birthday and Wordsworth's death-day.)
DEAR FRIEND,
I am not writing about poets to-day, nor about any "play" topic,
nor anything gay, or pretty, or amusing. I write on business only.
When you heard of Mr. Shepherd's death, you must, I should think,
have considered what was to be done in regard to fulfilling the
provision of my will about skull and brain. It is to inform you
of this that I write.