New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-11-11
THE DICKENS LETTERS.
AND WHAT is SAID ABOUT THEM IN THE
ENGLISH PRESS

AND W 10 SAlD ABDUL lilI-M i-N ii'A'
ENGLISH PRESS.
IFRoM TIE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF HE IRTBUHE.I
LONDON, October 30.
There are signs that the friends of the late MT,
Charles Dickens including some of those who think
themselves entitled TO take semi-oficial charge of
his memory and remains, disturbed by your
publication of the OuvTy- Milton letters Not The
Times certainly, which on Saturday published
summary Of and extracts from them, with due
credit to TIE TRIBUNE, and with an expression OF
opinion 10 the effect that documents of so much IN
terest ought TO be collected in some permanent
form. But The Daily Telegraph, which occasionally
assumes the advocacy of the proprieties considers
the circumstances under which these remarkable
cpistles have seen the light extraordinary. In Its
own peculiar English the d. L. observes that they
| purport to have been acquired from the repre-
sentatves Of the late Mr. Ouvry," who was the so
| lcitor aud intimate friend of the novelist during
many wears. Sons and daughters of Charles Dick
ems are still living; therefore ave are bound to as
snme" that their consent to the publication of the
| letters had been obtained not only for the OuVry
letters but for those addressed to Mr.. Milton, who
WINS for nearly thirty years Mr. Dickenss legal man
| of business" Bound 10 assume il we may be- but II
is none the less the opinion of this writer that the
reading of the letters must be ungratefu to the feel
jngs of the family. Then comes an outburst Ot IN
| dgnation:
| What purpose beyond that Of satisfying morbid
appetite for gossip can result IRON the p ,G tho
I'm 1882, the elder Dickens was arrested AT the Shlt
of a wine merchant and locked mp IN sponsng-
| house in Cursitor-st.f Who wants to know any
| thing abont the financial distrcsses Of Dckenss
brothers who had nothing whatever 70 do with III.
eraure and had neither act nor part III the story OF
his public life A hundred years hence such tTlyi-
aItics may possess feeble kind Of interest, but
their publication while one at least OF these broth
crs has left widow and children 10 SURVIVE MN ~
| little less thai indecent.
Indecent seems harsh word. 1t is, perhaps diff
cult to estimate tho precise meaning attached TO 1t
by journal which has been IN the habit of publish
| ing Objectionable advertisements at double the
| usual price Possibly we may, with this fact be-
fore us join in the hope that wholly exceptional
| proceeding may not he erected into precedent.
The more sn rs the writer has obviously composed
his structures without troubling himself to look at
the letters as they were published in THE TRIBUNE.
| II is the summary of them in The Times which
| lie bases his criticisms.
| The same is true, apparently. of Miss Hogarth,
who sends to T he Times vehement protest against
the publication of these Dickens letters The essen
tial part of this feminine cpstle is As follows:
| | beg alphabetically 10 say that / have nothing
whatever TO do with the publication of these letters
| or am in any way connected with it. In my capac-
| itv IA cXpcutriX, denOnnCe the making pubic III
England of this correspondence as an infringement
of INV rights and on behalf Of every member Of Nh
Charles Dckcne's family, / wish il also 10 be well
known how utterly rcpugnant TO our feelings Is the
| publication of some of these letters. Mr.. OnvTy
was a very dear friend of the late Mr.. Charles DICK
| ems He was q man Of the finest tact and dccacy
of feeling and can only imagine that mis- i'll health
during the years that preceded his sudden death
must have prevented him from leaving due instruc-
| tons as 10 the disposal OF his correspondence.
| Miss Hogarths Indignation concerns itself chiefly
with the publicity given TO the letters in England
But her complaint does in effect reach back to Mr.
Bouton and to you, and you may therefore be- inter
ested to know tI't you have found champion in
An Admirer of Dickens" Whose letter Thc Times Of
| Tuesday publishes. After explaining that he had
read the letters az given in that paper and that he
| entirely fails to why Miss Hogarth is angry,
| ho proceeds:
But two statements. made by THE NEw-loRK
TRIBUNE are worthy of Miss HOgarths serious at
tention. The first is that Mr.. Ouvry, in arranging
these letters had the assistance of Miss iOgarth
| herself who was able approximately to fix their
| dates Why was this done Miss logarth doubt
| less did not give this assistance Ostensibly with
view to publication, Int it must he Obvious 10 any
one that Mr. Ouvry, contemplated future publica-
| TRIBUNE states that I" Miss HogSrth wrote to Mr.
Ouvry that Mr Forster had written freely of the
| family money troubles she did not feel justified in
supplessing all the letters and documents referring
TO this Is thii sta,Tnenf f true II It. be- It. com ,
! ter which you publish to-day.
Today, also, Il nc D0HY NcUb mixes III lHe Tray
not reluctant to lay it's lash on any American back
! that NAV seem 10 lie ready for stroke. Dickens
| cries out this champion Of silence is the latest
victim of the love of gossip and the love of gain.
| The letters now published in America and since
aid before the English public are, in the not too
careful phrase of this writer concerned with do
| nestle and private concerns" All the world, he
| continues knew before all about the elder Dickens
| and since the record was not ungenial I'VE should
be content with it, and decline TO crafty an utterly
mean curiosity about affairs which sill have per-
sonal and private interest for living people,
The law of copyright is invoked to prevent the re-
printing of the letters in England i suppose there
| is no doubt that the Court Of Chancery would grant
an Injunction If Miss HOgath chooses TO apply for
one Nothing is better settled than the doctrine
that the copyright in letters belongs to the sender
and not to the receiver of them and the cxccutrx
of the sender would be in as good position to de-
mand legal protection as the writer himself suppOs-
ing the copyright not to have expired by limitation
| of time Mr.. Justice Story has stated the law on
this point as strongly anybody. 1t is he says but
sound and just that court of eqnity should inter
fere where letter from its very nature, as in tho
case of matters of business or friendship or advice
or family or private confidence, imparts the implied
or necessary intention and duty of privacy and Sc
| crecy; or when the publication would be violation
Of trust or Conscience founded In contract or implied
| from circumstances. Whether Miss Hogarth on the
strength of her share in preparing these letters for
tie press might be held by the court to be a con-
senting party TO the publication, queryi
All these abstruse considerations OF equity and