Item 181 - Letter from Julius Charles Hare

6 pp

Herstmonceux, Hailsham - JCH's comments concerning WW's adverse temperament were not unfounded [see JCH to WW, 28 March 1843] - 'they came to me so repeatedly, and from so many quarters, and some of them certainly not unfriendly ones, that I thought I cd hardly fulfil the duties of friendship without saying something to you about them'. As regards WW's claim concerning the possibility of changes to the University system: 'I shd be disposed to assail it. My own experience has shewn me what an extraordinary practical influence such a man as Bishop Otter can exercise over his whole diocese, in great measure by the sweetness of his manner...In Taylor's statesman, he speaks of the power Wilberforce acquired by having 'the cream of human kindness'. And thus everyday we see instances of the fulfilment of the saying that 'the meek shall inherit the earth'. JCH is glad and thankful that WW has begun to attempt to remove one of the two evils JCH spoke about [the influence of private tutors, see JCH to WW, 29 March 1843]: 'My own experience here again, in my warfare against pews and black monsters, has taught me that, except when a nation is set in motion by the blast of some mighty principle, the contest against every kind and degree of selfishness is carried on under great disadvantages, and must be carried on long and patiently and perseveringly, if it is to succeed'. Which side does Connop Thirlwall take concerning the Welsh sees?: 'Perhaps he may be very anxious for the new see of Manchester...One should be loth to alter the sacred number, if it were only to add one; but as I should rather wish to add forty-eight, and think that such an addition would be the best temporal means of energising the whole body of our ministry, I cannot let the charm of a number hinder such an object'. What does WW think of John S. Mill's Logic [A System of Logic Ratiocinative and Inductive: Being a Connected View of the Principles of Evidence and the Methods of Scientific Investigation, 2nd edn. 1843]: 'As yet I have only cut it open, and seen that he is perpetually breaking a lance with you'.