Saint or Scoundrel 10

April 10, 1863

I have nothing specific to say about what I think my Pa would have written to Mr. Wakefield at this time. But I have decided to write to Catharine Torlesse, who was Edward’s older sister. I know where she lives from a reference in a previous letter to my father. She is married to the Vicar of the church in Stoke by Nayland, which Mr. Balshaw, my employer, tells me is near Colchester in Suffolk. I know
that he had a high regard for her, and that she cared for his children when he was in prison. If I tell her of my plan for the book and ask for her help in filling in the gaps in her brother’s life after 1845 when Pa last had letters from him, if she is alive and able, I think she will help me.

Ellen’s father, William Turner, became an MP for Blackburn for the Whig party in 1832, as I expect Edward knew.

February 8, 1832

Dear Daniel

Since I last wrote to you, I have had a bitter blow. My grandmother
Priscilla, who was almost a mother to me, has died. I think I told
you about her writing and all her good works. She died last
September. I do hope that before she died, she felt proud of me and my
accomplishments. She certainly stood by me throughout my life, taking
the rough with the smooth, and loved me despite my many failures to
live up to her expectations. I do miss her so much.

Yours faithfully,

Edward Gibbon

April 15th, 1863

I have had a letter back from Edward’s sister, Catherine Torlesse, and what a bitter blow it is to me.

I have copied it out word for word.

15 May, 1863

St. Mary’s Vicarage

Stoke By Nayland, Suffolk

Dear Miss Forbes,

Thank you for your letter of the 10 of April of this year. I was very surprised to hear of the project you have undertaken. You asked for my support in the continuation of it, but I am afraid that I must
tell you that I think you are very much misled if you think this is the right task for you.

Forgive my frankness, but from your letter, you sound as if you have had only a basic schooling. Are you aware of just how famous a man my brother was? He wrote many, many books. He was so important in Australia and New Zealand that they named rivers and streets after him. There will
be many scholars who will have taken on the task of writing about his life.

You say you have a few letters from him to your father - and you think them worthy of publication. I have had hundreds of letters from him - all through his life - and, surely, those will be the ones that will be of importance to those who write his biography.

As far as providing you with the details of his years from 1845 until his death - it would be a mammoth task and I am not up to it physically or mentally, even if I approved of your idea. He did so
much. I cannot only think that it is your very naivety that makes you even think of taking on this onerous task.

I can tell you this. His last 10 years were spent in New Zealand, a country he almost founded, and certainly was very instrumental in how it was constructed and run. During his last five years he was not at all well.

My only suggestion to you, is that you might contact his son, Edward Jerningham Wakefield who lives at 7 Kilmore Street, Christchurch, New Zealand. He misses his father so much, and it might be that it would help his grief for him to write about him. He too loves writing letters, as Edward did, and he might be willing to answer your questions.

I won’t say good luck with your project, as I think it foolhardy, but if you do succeed and get someone to publish Edward's letters to your father, then, of course, I would very much like to have a copy of the book, so keep me informed.

Yours faithfully,

Catherine T. Torlesse

How little she values my idea! Is she correct in her thinking? Am I wasting my time and effort for something that no one will be interested in publishing? I knew that he was somewhat famous, but it
never occurred to me that many others would even now be writing up the story of his life.

But having gone this far, I can at least write to his son and see if he is a bit more helpful to me.

Here is the next in the series of letters to Pa.

December, 1833

Dear Daniel

England and America is the name of my latest book, which I have published
anonymously. It is a work primarily intended to develop my colonial
theory, which is done in the appendix entitled "The Art of
Colonization." The body of the work, however, is fruitful in
seminal ideas, though the critics say some statements may be rash and
some conclusions extravagant. It contains the distinct proposal that
the transport of letters should be wholly gratuitous and that, under
given circumstances, “the Americans would raise cheaper corn than
has ever been raised."

I wish, however, to try out my ideas by founding a new colony in South
Australia. Negotiations with the Colonial Office in 1831 and 1832
broke down, but the publication of England and America, in which I
further developed my ideas, has revived interest.

I suppose it might be true to say that rather than providing new ideas,
it is more a careful decoction of existing ideas, practices and
proposals. England and America provides selective reading on contemporary
writings on America, meant to demonstrate how emigration and
settlement up to now is badly conducted, in contrast to my own
idealized vision of how colonies should be peopled.

I nearly called my book - England and `Ignorant, Dirty, Unsocial,
Restless, and more than Half-Savage' America. But I need to court
friends on both sides of the Atlantic.

Your friend,

Edward Gibbon