Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-08-25
CARDINAL NEWMAN.
The General and the Exceptional Estimate
of Hts Talents and hts Motives Com

The General and the Exceptional Estimate
of Hts Talents and Hts Motives Com
trusted.
To the Editor of the Globe.
From the numerous tributes to the high
qualities and brilliant talents of John Henry
Newman, and above all to the purely censcien-
tious motives by which he has ever been actu-
ated, in which the press and magazines of the
day, both secular and religious, abound,
quote from nen-Catholic sources two which
express the general estimate of writers who
though differing from him in faith, are COM
PEELED by love of truth to express not only
their admiration for his genius, but at the
same time their testimony to the purity of his
motives, and his unwavering fidelity to con-
science. writer in July number of the
Fortnightly Review says of him:
There is NO living writer who has attained
to such supreme mastery over the English
tongue. It is to him an instrument of which
he knows all the mysterious capabilities, all
the hidden sweetness, all the latent power, and
it responds with marvellous precision to his
every touch-the boldest or the slightest.
Where in the whole range of our lit
erature shall we find passages of loftier elo-
quence and purer religious feeling than
in his sermons? Where an exacter ap-
prehension and clearer statement of
gravest philosophical problems-whatever
our views as to hls solution of them-than in
,nent, the Lecture on the Ideal Of Uniersity9
Where sweeter and more delicate flowers Of
poesy than in such verses as LEAD Kindly
Light, or Dream of Gerontius." (
Who has sorted and numbered. the weapons of
controversy and employed them with such
consummate skill. While, still
higher glory, IN life full of polemical strife
he has never taken an unfair advantage or won
q dishonest victory. \ Cardinal New
man has played q notable part in most i'm
portant, perhaps the most important, depart
ment of the annals of our century. He is the
especial representative of great spiritual and
intellectual movement and conspicuous
leader of religious thought. And it
is his singular happiness that he has lived to
see the cloud of misconceptions which so long
hung over him, pass quite away.
Comparatively few Englishmen share his re-
ig1ous opinions There are fewer still who
do not respect the motives which lead him to
embrace them, the spirit in which he has held
them, the tone in which he has advocated
them; who do not discern in him shining cx-
ample of the qualities which are the essential
boast of the English name; who
do not venerate in him q great intelligence
devoted to the noblest ends and guided by the
purest affections.
writer in the current number of the New
Z
"He is, by common consent, the greatest
living master of English who has ever lived.
And he is not merely great master
Of the language, he is also great leader of
religious thought, and he was the guide-we
might almost say the oracle of spiritual
movement which has left its mark ON the his-
tory of the world. Cardinal Newman's Apo
logia is confessedly mas terpiece-an almost
unique exemplar of absolute candor, trans
parent sincerity, rigid accuracy and profound
psychological science
Ills secession from the Church of England
may be regarded a. the supreme proof of his
good faith. 1t is, therefore, in no
nngrudgiug spirit that Englishmen offer to
Cardinal Newman their congratulations, be-
cause he has been loyal to the Law within. The
Church of Rome 10 not popular in England.
But in spite Of his Jealous adherence to her,
John Henry Newman enjoys popularity of
quite unique kind. There are few educated
men in this country who do not regard him,
not merely with veneration and pride, but with
. kind of personal affection: who do not re-
cognize in him one of those rare souls, radiant
with ardor divine, who, Is beacons Of hope,
light mp from time to time, the dreary story of
In contrast to the above also quote the exc
ceptional estimate of the motives which actu-
ated Newman in becoming . Catholic, - enun-
ciated by Protestant clergyman of this city.
In q letter addressed to the editor of the
Pioneer Press. and published il. that paper
Nov. 19, 1878, the Rev. E. s. Thomas delivered
himself of the following:
Poor Newman, the most brilliant conquest,
or rather capture, of Rome! Read the apology
OF his life, and Judge whether it was mose his
clear Judgment, or his wounded pride and ach-
ing heart which drove him from the Anglican
communion.
It will be noticed that the reverend gentle
man, in endeavoring tot mpugn tho motives of
Newman, referred to his work entitled "Apolo-