The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1893-01-01
Cardinal Newmsn's Irony.

Mention has often been made Of the
power Of Cardinal Newman as a polemic.
lie could dip his pen in gail and worm
wood. and yet be as gentle as the wine
10 the shorn lamb. He had wonderful
power as a contrOversialist. and could
stab his antagonist TO the heart, and
still preserve the moods of a higher and
better spirit. Perhaps the most remark
able instance of his putting an adversary
20 rebuke was given in his turning upon
the late Charles Kingsley. who accused
him in a magazine article OF tampering
with truth. and of saying that II need
not. n on the whole ought not, TO be
a virtue with the Roman clergy. This
accusation was the final ounce that broke
the camel's back. For twenty years
Cardinal Newman had borne every form
OF yilification because he had left the
Church of England. 1t seemed as II GER
tain people I'm that church would never
cease to pour upon him their wrath ana
bitterness. 1t was subsequently known
tina To him the leaving of the Church
OF England was like a man tearing out
his own heart. and it is now known that
tue agony of 1t crippled and saddened his
whole subsequent life. His farewell TO
his English friends is one OF the saddest
and most pathetic paragraphs in English
letters, and the companion piece to that
paragraph is found I'm the passage In
which he concludes his dealing with Mr..
Kingsley. i'm the preface of his Apologize
IL is little known, and IL is so fun or the
vital truth as to Cardinal Newman's
struggles in leaving one communion and
entering another, that we quote II in ull.
He has dealt with Mr.. Kingsley's insin-
nations at great length. and then he con-
cludes with this remarkable passage:
''Whatever judgment my readers ma
eventually form Of me from these pages
] am confident that they Will believe me
in what / shall say in the course of them.
i have no misgiving at all that they VIII
be ungenerous or harsh with a man who
has been so long before the eyes OF the
world; who has so many TO speak OF MN
from personal knowledge; whose natural
impulse has ever been TO speak out; who
has ever spoken too much rather than too
little: who would have saved himself
many a scrape If he had been wise
enough TO hold his tongue; who has ever
been fair to the doctrines and arguments
of his opponents; who has never slurred
over facts and reasonings which told
against himself; who has never given
his name or authority to proofs which
he thought unsound. or to testimony
which he did not think at least plausi-
who has never shrunk from confess
ing a fault when he felt that he had COM
mitted one: who has ever consulted for
OlltTs UlDIt IMAM - 1hA'N
given up much that he loved and priced
and could nave retained. but that he loved
honesty better than name, and truth
better thar dear friends" Seldom mas
a man put his defense into simpler or
stronger words, written In his hearts
blood, and to-day every one who knows
his history declares them 10 be true. me
next words express, perhaps, the hnest
example of irony in English literature.
He proceeds thus And now j am In a
train of thought higher and more serene
than any which ISLANDERS can disturb.
Away with you, Mr.. Kingsley, and fly
Into space Was ever an antagonist
hurled out of the way more efectualiy
with the stroke Of the pen? He adds:
.I shall henceforth occupy myself. not
with you, but with your charges. There
are other instances where Cardinal New
man was equally sharp. but this passage
Is historic. 1t was these charges that led
10 the writing of the most remarkable
autobiography in the language
Boston Herald.