152 Edward Livingston Youmans. 



that you would afterward recover your equilibrium, but 

 I suspect that terrible commercial catastrophes and an im- 

 mense sacrifice of property would have to be gone through. 

 On the whole, I prefer to lose by the state of the exchange 

 than to run the risk of much greater loss. Please, therefore, 

 when the account has been made out let the balance be 

 transmitted. I was greatly obliged to Mrs. Youmans for 

 her interesting letter of April nth. I was glad of her in- 

 formation and opinion respecting the war and its prospects. 

 The view she takes of the past and future of this terrible 

 struggle is one in which I perfectly coincide. 



Ever yours, very truly, HERBERT SPENCER. 



29 BLOOMSBURY SQUARE, W. C., October 28, 1863. 

 MY DEAR YOUMANS: . . . Thank you for the copy of 

 the New Englander which you have been so good as to 

 forward. The review it contains is a fair representation 

 of the first part of First Principles, especially considering 

 that it is written by a minister.* The objections made are 

 such as must, of course, be looked for from such a quar- 

 ter. One point in it, however, annoys me viz., the asser- 

 tion that I belong to the school of Comte. This is a mis- 

 understanding which I am anxious to rectify ; for, though 

 I am quite ready to encounter the prejudices raised by 

 opinions which I hold, I do not like to bear the odium of 

 opinions which I do not hold. Dissenting from Comte as 

 I do on all those points that are distinctive of his phi- 

 losophy, I object to being classed as in any degree his dis- 

 ciple. I am therefore thinking of writing a letter to the 

 New Englander, setting myself right with its readers on 

 this point. Should this letter appear, I should be glad if 

 you could get it republished in the Tribune ; for I fear 



* This review was written by Rev. Jonathan Ebenezer Barnes, of 

 Middletown, Conn., a scholarly and thoughtful clergyman, whom I knew 

 well and highly respected. He died at an early age in 1866. 



