ntry, an idea that has occurred to me, I should
regard it as a great kindness in you if you would be my exponent. I
think you will have no difficulty in believing that I would not, on any
consideration, obtrude my name or projects upon any one of those noble
souls, if there were any reason of the slightest kind against it. And if
you see any such reason, I pray you instantly to banish my letter from
your thoughts.

It seems to me probable that some narrative of their ten years'
suffering will, somehow or other, sooner or later, be by some of them
laid before the English people. The just interest and indignation alive
here, will (I suppose) elicit it. False narratives and garbled stories
will, in any case, of a certainty get about. If the true history of the
matter is to be told, I have that sympathy with them and respect for
them which would, all other considerations apart, render it unspeakably
gratifying to me to be the means of its diffusion. What I desire to lay
before them is simply this. If for my new successor to "Household Words"
a narrative of their ten years' trial could be written, I would take any
conceivable pains to have it rendered into English, and presented in the
sincerest and best way to a very large and comprehensive audience. It
should be published exactly as you might think best for them, and
remunerated in any way that you might think generous and right. They
want no mouthpiece and no introducer, but perhaps they might have no
objection to be associated with an English writer, who is possibly not
unknown to them by some general reputation, and who certainly would be
animated by a strong public and private respect for their honour,
spirit, and unmerited misfortunes. This is the whole matter; assuming
that such a thing is to be done, I long for the privilege of helping to
do it. These gentlemen might consider it an independent means of making
money, and I should be delighted to pay the money.

In my absence from town, my friend and sub-editor, Mr. Wills (to whom I
had expressed my feeling on the subject), has seen, I think, three of
the gentlemen together. But as I hear, returning home to-night, that
they are in your good hands, and as nobody can be a better judge than
you of anything that concerns them, I at once decide to write to you and
to take no other step whatever. Forgive me for the trouble I have
occasioned you in the reading of this letter, and never think of it
again if you think that by