nnot be written," was the dominant
principle of Froude's life and work. He had hitherto taken no notice
of the attacks in The Saturday Review. The errors pointed out in them
were of the most trivial kind, and mere abuse is not worth a reply.
But even Gibbon was moved from his philosophic calm when Mr. Somebody
of Something "presumed to attack not the faith but the fidelity of
the historian." Froude passed over in contemptuous silence
impertinent reflections upon his religious belief. His honesty was
now in set terms impugned, and on the 15th of February, 1870, he
addressed, through the editor of The Pall Mall Gazette, Mr. Frederick
Greenwood, a direct challenge to Mr. Philip Harwood, who had become
editor of The Saturday Review. After a few caustic remarks upon the
absurdity of the defects imputed to him, such as ignorance that
Parliament could pass Bills of Attainder, because he had said that
the House of Lords would not pass one in a particular case, he came
to close quarters with the imputation of bad faith. "I am," he said,
"peculiarly situated"--as Freeman of course knew--"towards a charge
of this kind, for nine-tenths of my documents are in manuscript, and
a large proportion of those manuscripts are in Spain. To deal as
fairly as I can with the public, I have all along deposited my
Spanish transcripts, as soon as I have done with them, in the British
Museum. The reading of manuscripts, however, is at best laborious.
The public may be inclined to accept as proved an uncontradicted
charge, the value of which they cannot readily test. I venture
therefore to make the following proposal. I do not make it to my
reviewer. He will be reluctant to exchange communications with me,
and the disinclination will not be on his side only. I address myself
to his editor. If the editor will select any part of my volumes, one
hundred, two hundred, three hundred pages, wherever he pleases, I am
willing to subject them to a formal examination by two experts, to be
chosen--if Sir Thomas Hardy will kindly undertake it--by the Deputy
Keeper of the Public Records. They shall go through my references,
line for line. They shall examine every document to which I have
alluded, and shall judge whether I have dealt with it fairly. I lay
no claim to be free from mistakes. I have worked in all through nine
hundred volumes of letters, notes, and other papers, private and
official, in five languages and in difficult handwritings. I am not
rash enou