"Weston, "26th April, 1883.
"Dear Mrs. Kingsley,
"… I am apparently assuming the position of one who (like the Pope) makes an ALLOCUTION to all who will listen. Each of us may imitate him. I have given away eighty copies to make my allocution known. I suppose I ought to have sent one to you, but circulation is hard work. Alas, it costs a shilling! Can you get it put into any Manchester Library? (Trübner my publisher.) It is called A Christian Commonwealth and is as much against our unjust wars as a Quaker could desire.
"In haste, ever yours,
"F. W. Newman."
"Kind regards to all yours."
"Weston-super-Mare, 9th April, 1884.
"My dear Friend,
"… My dismay and disgust at the proceedings of a ministry, of which Mr. Gladstone must bear the full responsibility—which indeed he accepts by defending all its atrocious proceedings—have disinclined me to write, more than I must, on any but private or literary topics….
"A new struggle is made by this unscrupulous ministry to retain the execrable C.D. Acts.
"I am sorry that the Bishops have again turned the scale in the unrighteous retention of the law against a man's marriage to his deceased wife's sister. When do the Bishops rally against sanguinary injustice and dire oppression? "I have just had two hundred and fifty copies struck off of the enclosed leaflet, which aims to suggest to the haters of unjust war, especially Quakers, in what direction they ought to work, viz. to lay the foundation of an entirely new political party. No candidate for a vote could complain that he was humiliated by being required to profess himself a VOTARY OF JUSTICE.