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[Letter of Francis William Newman to Dr. Chapman] 7 Park Village East
NW, Dear Sir, I am sorry that the tone of my note hurt you; which I did not intend and did not at all foresee. Let me begin my reply by apologizing where perhaps apology is due. It was from mere haste & preoccupation of mind, that I did not thank you for (what you evidently meant as a compliment) the sending of a proofsheet of the article concerning me & my Evangelical critics. It is, as you say, in a genial tone. I accepted it, (before seeing it, as well as since,) not as a personal favour, but as an endeavour on your part to make known the truth impartially. As such I think you would wish it to be taken. I certainly do not like to be slandered, or any way misrepresented, & I am obliged to all who will refute my slanderers: but I fear I could not care much for praise without being proportionably sensitive to blame: and I really had so little eagerness to get quickly at a reading of the article, that I wrongly forgot (while writing to you) the goodwill with which you had tried to accommodate me with the earliest possible sight of it. My sole reason for disclaiming approbation of your views on Medical Reform, was, because I had not read the articles consecutively, & I should have felt awkward if you had asked me questions about them in detail. I have never studied any of the details, & so far, may seem to have no right to an opinion. I felt as if I should be rather pretentious, in professing to agree with you. But as far as I have gathered, I think you uphold results which I have always opined to be the true ones, as alone agreeing with the analogies of freedom & the essential incapacity of public authorities to investigate truth. I am sorry that my short P.S. on this matter so needlessly gave you a disagreeable impression. You wrongly infer that I decline to see you in my own house. I shall be happy to receive you, if you think it worth the trouble of coming. I am likely to be at home every evening. But I would rather take trouble than give you trouble, & I sincerely doubted whether it was worth while. All my friends will tell you how many difficulties I make as to going to their parties. Both Martineau & Taylor understand that they are not ordinarily to ask me. It is only under very special circumstances that they do so; & the very last time I was at Martineau's, I came away after barely showing my face. Dr. & Mrs. Carpenter have left off asking me, because they find I do not like London parties. But the frankness with which you ask whether you have offended me, & the allusions to your own past affairs, demand from me an equally frank reply. Most certainly both you to me & I to you are unchanged since I made a great but vain effort by discourse with Mrs. Martineau to bring you into business relations (I mean, distant decorous acquaintance, as distinct from friendly acquaintance) with her husband. You have given me no offence whatever of a personal kind at any time, except so far as your conduct to Martineau was a grief & indirectly an offence. But your sentence in this letter:—"I feel most deeply the misfortune entailed on you by my failure"—: reveals to me what it is in you which has (perhaps I may venture on the word) disgusted the Martineaus. What was my misfortune at that time? the loss of a few pounds! Oh, & to that you attribute "the seemingly consequent loss of cordiality." No, indeed: that was not my misfortune; but my misfortune was, that I was unable to approve of the principles of business which your affairs revealed, & of the mode in which you justified yourself,—the tone which you assumed, & the active assaults which you made on a creditor who took a sterner view of your responsibilities than you did. The accident of my being a creditor revealed these things to me, & forced me to feel that I had mistaken your principles, & had foolishly allowed myself to be drawn into too near relations with you: but as to my pecuniary loss, it never gave me a moment's concern. Since then I have wished to do you any little good which may be in my power, & remain always the same: nor have you ever deserved otherwise from me. Most sincerely yours,
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