455 



^eeti-i^X 



" Ceo', even my Cod, halh anointed me -with ejir 

 Cil oj gladness above my fellows? 



from 

 HOL.L/OWAY gaol 



A NEW YEAR'S CARD, SENT BY MR. W. T. STEAD TO HIS FRIENDS, FROM HOLLOWAY 



GAOL, JANUARY 1, 1886. 



MY FATHER: W. T. STEAD. 



Father would have been 64 on the 5th 

 of July. It was significant that one 

 who did so much to bring the two 

 great sections of the English-speaking 

 race together should have been born the 

 day after the anniversary of the Decla- 

 ration of American Independence. He 

 always regarded the separation of the 

 American colonies as having been of 

 the greatest benefit to the world in 

 general and to the British Empire in 

 particular. He used to celebrate the 

 Fourth regularly, latterly often giving 

 the address at Browning Settlement, 

 where for the last eighteen years the day 

 has been kept as one of special rejoic- 

 Father strongly advocated the 

 erection of a statue to George Washing- 



1 mi English ground, for he looked 

 mi him as one of the greatest English- 

 men who ever lived. We have not 

 reached that stage yet, but I have no 

 doubt whatever that before long such 

 a statue will be put up. 



Lord Morley used to say of father that 

 he was too far ahead of his public. It 

 likes to be led, but he was generally 

 " round the next corner by the time it 

 had got into the street." Thus he worked 

 earnestly for the union of the English- 

 speaking world ; for that purpose he 

 founded the Review of Reviews more 

 than twenty years ago. At that time, 

 and during crises like that over Vene- 

 zuela, when war seemed inevitable, 

 people said his hope was Utopian, and 

 utterly impossible of realisation. To 

 those he replied that the time would 

 come when war between America and 

 England could not be dreamed of, and 

 every dispute would be settled by arbi- 

 tration. That is the position to-day; 

 and his grave is mid-way between the 

 two great countries he did so much to 

 bring together. 



He laboured through long and stormy 

 years for better understanding with 

 Russia, lie was accused of being' sub- 



