132 



LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY chap, viii 



gans, as described by Mariner, who lived many years among 

 the natives. 



HODESLEA, Oct. IO, 1894. 



My dear Campbell — I took a good deal of trouble years ago 

 to satisfy myself about the point you mention, and I came to the 

 conclusion that Mariner was eminently trustworthy, and that 

 Martin was not only an honest, but a shrewd and rather critical, 

 reporter. The story he tells about testing Mariner's version of 

 King Theebaw's oration shows his frame of mind (and is very 

 interesting otherwise in relation to oral tradition). 



I have a lot of books about Polynesia, but of all I possess 

 and have read, Mariner is to my mind the most trustworthy. 



The missionaries are apt to colour everything, and they 

 never have the chance of knowing the interior life as Mariner 

 knew it. It was this conviction that led me to make Mariner my 

 cheval de bataille in " Evolution of Theology." 



I am giving a great deal of trouble — ill for the last week, 

 and at present with a sharp lumbago ! so nice ! With our love 

 to Mrs. Campbell and yourself — Ever yours, T. H. H. 



The circumstances under which the following letter was 

 written are these. The activity of the Home Rulers and 

 the lethargy of Unionists had caused one side only of the 

 great question then agitating English politics, to be repre- 

 sented in the American press, with the result that the funds 

 of the Nationalists were swelled by subscriptions from 

 persons who might have acted otherwise if the argu- 

 ments on the other side had been adequately laid before 

 them. 



Mr. Albert Grey, M.P., therefore had arranged for a 

 series of clear, forcible pronouncements from strong repre- 

 sentative Englishmen against a separate Parliament, to be 

 cabled over to New York to a syndicate of influential news- 

 papers, and his American advisers desired that the opening 

 statement should be from Huxley. 



Although it will be seen from the letter that he would 

 not undertake this task, Mr. Grey showed the letter to one 

 or two of the leading Liberal Unionists to strengthen their 

 hands, and begged permission to publish it for the benefit 

 of the whole party. Accordingly, it appeared in the Times 

 of April 13, 1886. 



