"J. M. PEEBLES: Dear Sir, "CAPE OF GOOD HOPE, SOUTH AFRICA, CAPE TOWN, May 20, 1870. I have followed you in many of your sayings and doings, since you have been in England, and read with great pleasure the object and first attraction that drew you there, which was a singular proof of faith and conBelieve me, dear sir, your obedient servant, "W. L. SAMMONS." fidence. . . . "SAGNA LA GRAND, ISLE OF CUBA, Feb. 14, 1870. "MY DEAR FRIEND, Spiritualism is not widely known here, though many are inquiring. I have long known you through 'The Banner' and your published works. While wandering, why not come to us, bringing with you a good test-medium? thus giving us both phenomena and philosophy. You would meet with a cordial reception in this country.... I am a Spaniard, coming to this country fourteen years ago. I have been in your country twice. I am anxious to become developed as a medium; then I should have the knowledge within myself. I am very anxious to form your personal acquaintance. . . Most sincerely thine, "EULOGIO PRICTO." The following, addressed to Mr. Peebles in deep mourning, indicates the appreciation in which he was held in London by those especially most in need of the heavenly light. Mrs. Morris is an esteemed cousin of Hon. Robert Dale Owen. 1 "8 THERESA TERRACE, HAMMERSMITH, W. LONDON. "MY DEAR FRIEND, — I am honored and delighted to find that you will come and visit a poor widow, who will give you a hearty welcome to her humble, quiet home. . How I prize your glorious work 'The Seers, &c.'! Your Spiritualism is exactly, I think, like mine. What glorious thinkers and writers you have in America!... There is so much Orthodox Church cant and all kinds of uncharitableness against those who do not swallow, or rather pretend to do so, all the absurdities of Trinitarian doctrines, that the Spiritualists form here two antagonistic branches. "How beautiful was your discourse last Sunday! It ought to have been preached in some of our grand empty city churches. With God's blessing, may you soon recover is the prayer of your friend! CAROLINA H. MORRIS." As we read the following, the soul is stirred, for we think of the ancient brother-seers who made "Vishnoo" a study. a study. India is a soul-mother of religion. May the morning-sun of the Spiritual Gospel rise again upon her sacred lands! “J. M. PEEBLES, Esq., Southampton Row, London. “CALCUTTA, 11th June, 1870. “My dear Sir,—I must ask you to pardon me for the delay I have made in replying to your favor of the 4th April last. Though I have been a Spiritualist for many years my knowledge of the Spiritual circles existing in the different parts of the country is very limited, and I fear I can not be of much use to you. I have never taken any interest in external manifestations, and have devoted my entire attention to the study of my soul and its varied phenomena in connection with the external world, and the nervous system, and its subjectivity by itself, or by freedom from phenomenal states. This study is ennobling inasmuch as it raises us above all creeds and sects, and brings us into intimate communion with God, his will and providence. I have got to say a great deal on the subject of Spiritualism from my own experience; which with me is an accomplished fact. Though I have read a large number of books on Spiritualism, I confess I have found in most of them a great deal of error, or, in other words, what I have known otherwise from my own experience. I shall be delighted to see you here. "Yours fraternally, "PEAR CHAND MITTRA." "Sept. 25, 1869. "MY DEAR SIR, - Thank you for your very splendid lecture on Spiritualistic belief. Of course, we do not agree in all points; but we do in the grand principles of a spirit intercourse, and that will progressively open up to us all the rest. "Wishing you a prosperous journey, I remain, my dear sir, yours faithfully, "WILLIAM HOWITT. "J. M. PEEBLES, Esq. "P.S. We had a most interesting séance at the Everitts'. 'John Watt' talked like a philosopher, and, what was better, like a Christian philosopher. The Everitt mediumship is eminently satisfactory. "W. H." The following is an extract from a note sent Mr. Peebles by a distinguished professor of Oriental languages in one of the English Universities: "SEPT. 25, 1869. "MY DEAR MR. PEEBLES, I have been for the last few days so much engaged with the Nawab of Bengal, that I have been unable to write to you before. . Should you come here, which I hope you will soon, I shall be happy to show you all the attention and hospitality in my power. I will keep a look-out for any traces of Spiritualism in my Oriental reading, and send you them from time to time. For the present I send two instances, which I think will interest you. you "Mr. Pearce tells me you have been good enough to give him a copy of your 'Seers of the Ages' for me. I am extremely obliged to you, and shall read it, I am sure, with much pleasure, and because it is memorial of a very pleasant acquaintance which I hope will continue.” *** Having visited Scotland and Wales, Mr. Peebles resolved to know something from personal observation of "The Emerald Isle." Writing, he received the following from two distinguished gentlemen of Dublin, both patriots and liberalists, the one ex-lord-mayor, Sir John Barrington: "GENERAL PRINTING-OFFICE, DUBLIN, IRELAND, April 30, 1870. "JAMES M. PEEBLES, Esq.: Dear sir,-. . . So you have a touch of the 'Roundtower-aphobia!' I had a slight attack once myself, but a dose of sound practical sense recovered me. I am a disciple of O'Neill, who says, 'They were evidently built by the ancients to puzzle the moderns.' There was never a greater success. In the libraries of the British Museum is his great work on the Ancient Crosses and Round Towers of Ireland.' Command my services at any time. Truly yours, "IVER MCDONNELL.” "DUBLIN, May, 1870. "J. M. PEEBLES, UNITED-STATES CONSUL, IN LONDON: Dear sir,-I was glad when I read your note this morning, and to find that you had not forgotten your promise to visit Ireland. I shall be happy to see you, and do what I can toward showing you any thing of interest in Dublin and its neighborhood. "Believe me, yours faithfully, Through the mediumship of Dr. Dunn, the spirits affirm that these "Round Towers" were erected by the ancient Medes, though built about the time of the origin of Christianity. The crosses sometimes found near or in connection with them refer to the cross-bows used in the warfares of the Medes and Persians. The openings at various distances were simply lookouts, and apertures for arrow-shooting upon the approaching enemy. After a close scanning of the conditions of the Irish, during his rustications in their beloved country, Mr. Peebles indites the following, "MY DEAR FRIEND, "DUBLIN, IRELAND, May, 1870. Though my rambles over this city and into the country, and my observations in other localities, are quite limited, yet at a glance can I discern the general grade of the English government here, and of the Irish character. O my soul! come into judgment. How I pain over misrule! The eagle becomes filthy when caged: give him liberty, and how grand on the wing! The history of Ireland is the index of her capacity. Such poets as Thomas Moore, such patriots as Robert Emmet, O'Connell, O'Brien, and the like, are the magic of her redemption yet. But look at her degradation now; at the ignorance and superstition of her toiling millions; at the grinding, debasing effects of Papacy upon her devotees! My God! is there no spot on our green earth where the oppressor's foot has never trod?... When will legislators learn that governments are for the people, not people for governments? and that no government on earth is worth a single human life? Come, angels, and help us reverse the rule; making man, as Henry C. Wright says, 'superior to his incidents.' It is so strange to me that kings, queens, and presidents do not see this simple law, — that fealty is best secured where the people's rights are best secured. Guaranty by law, executed in fidelity, the God-endowed right to 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,' to all the people, and educate them up to a just appreciation of these principles, and behold the grandeur of patriotism and the peace and prosperity of the nations! "Whilst walking these streets, I seemed to be touched with the fire of the immortal Emmet, who, when condemned to the gallows by grave judges because he struck for Irish independence, asked for no epitaph over his grave, but 'the charity of its silence.' What burning words in his last plea before Lord Norbury, ringing still in every Irish heart that loves Erin's isle!-'When my country takes her place among the nations of the earth, then, and not till then, let my epitaph be written.' The execution of that orator smothers my soul: but it finds vent in tears when I remember his love for the daughter of Curran, the great Irish barrister, how he imperiled his life to breathe one word of affection into her soul; how she wilted and died in far-off Sicily when her hand was given to another; for she loved only as woman can love the patriot Robert Emmet. I recall the mournful melody of Erin's poet, Thomas Moore: 'She is far from the land where her young hero sleeps.' "Pardon me my deep feelings, brother; for I am hopeful as I weep over martyr-dust. Defeats will yet prove successes. Our William Lloyd Garrison, America's friend and patriot, suffered a thousand deaths whilst fighting for Afric's sons and daughters; but he triumphed at last; our nation rose to glory, and his name is now sacred. Our tearsoh, may they spread a rainbow over this isle of the British sea! 'O Erin, my country! thy glory's departed; For tyrants and traitors have stabbed thy heart's core. CHAPTER XXXIII. THE FAREWELL IN LONDON. "Gather up the fragments, that nothing be lost." - JESUS. "Storms purify the air we breathe. Rains that rust the corn revive the grass. The refuse of the yard makes the peach and pear grow more luxuriantly. Stars that fade from our skies only pass to illume other portions of the sidereal heavens. The dewdrops that glisten in morning-time from million plants are only exhaled by sun-kisses, to form clouds in aerial regions, to fall in copious showers gladdening the earth, while moving on in rills and rivers to the ocean again. Nothing is lost. Our loved ones, whom the world calls dead, have only passed to the Summer-Land before us, to return again as ministering spirits." How applicable these words of our Pilgrim to himself! Hardships in Asia, fogs and damps in London, together with severe mental labor, had bleached his locks to a venerable gray, —a change in which he takes a strange pride; longing for the day, close at hand, when they will be white as snow. Friends in America entreated his return home. Friends in England with equal assiduity plead for him to remain, if consistent, thinking the summer-flowering might recuperate his wasted energies. He carried the question up to the oracles ; listened to the still voices of his ever-faithful guardians; and concluded to return, for there were pressing duties in the Spiritual work claiming service in his own America. Learning his purpose, the Spiritualists of London resolved upon some token of their gratitude, and appreciation of his labors in the Queen's realm. His farewell address, delivered on Sunday the 29th of May, was replete with his most inspired thought. We select an extract to indicate its drifting wave: "The philosopher sees in the falling and decaying of a leaf, even, the action of lifeforces, which speak eloquently of resurrections and reconstructions upon the higher planes of vegetable existence. Newton, in an autumn day, lying beneath a tree laden with golden fruit, saw an apple fall to the earth; and the law of gravitation flashed across his mind. Franklin, with kite and string, called the electric fluids from heaven, and threw an eternal fact into the face of all past ages. "Now cables stretch across oceans, and magnetic wires girdle the globe. A psycho |