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[Letter of Francis William Newman to Dr. Chapman] 38 Maurice Terrace, Dear Sir, Between this and October I will try more carefully to plan an article on the Ethics of War, & will communicate further with you. At present I am closely occupied with other studies. If you can initiate a steady pressure on Mr. Ross, in whatever direction, it will be a great thing for him. He has talents, I think, but needs to be kept to something definite. I think the American system of militia vastly better than ours, but still very inferior to the old English system (of which it is a relaxation) and to the Swiss system. Kossuth, in his American speeches, which I edited, has commented on the American system (in reply to a speech developing it) & enunciated the system he was prepared to recommend to Hungary. In face of the fact that nothing but universal training suffices to maintain Swiss freedom, and that a standing army must be ridiculously incompetent for it, Englishmen allow themselves to be galled into the belief that nothing but a standing army can save us.—Of course a court fond of pomp & an aristocracy loving promotions, & a mercantile people hating distraction, all now pull in the same direction. Nothing but a monthly universal holiday & a compulsory local system *such as our forefathers had, seems to me to be of much use to such a people as England. Sincerely yours,
*To expatiate on any American institution as to be imitated by us seems to move foolish jealousies. P.S. Perhaps you may, or you may not, know that Kossuth vehemently refused to allow Klapka to move Hungary to insurrection until the French flag was compromised. . . .
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