BLACKWELL FAMILY
ELIZABETH BLACKWELL

GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE

From Armstrong (R. A.)The Modern Review
Sherwood Rise,
Nottingham,
July 15, 1881.
My dear Madam,
Your very kind note 
relieves me of a grave anxiety. 
Since writing to you 
I have seen two more leaders 
in respectable papers, 
veering round, under the spell 
of Dr Carpenter's persuasions 
from the position they took 
in criticising Miss Cobbe.
I can give you till 
the last week in August for 
your article, but should 
prefer to have it by, say, 
this day month if Mardoes not lay undue stress on you.
I thank you most sincerely for your goodness. If I can provide you with any books that would be of use in writing your paper, or in any other way facilitate your labours pray let me know. 
Sincerely yrs,
R A Armstrong

When it is simple, earnest, & sweet ; as whatever you wrote would necessarily be.
Pray pardon my importunity, & give the most favourable consideration you can to my suggestions.
Very faithfully yrs
R A Armstrong
Do not trouble, in any case to return the Review.
Of course this final paper on the subject should be written with all possible impartiality.
  of tone, so that both sides
may feel that it is fair that
it should close the discussion.
This, I believe, you would do.
I fear I must not give 
you the names of "Two of
the Profession;" but I shall be
very glad to forward any communication
from you to them.


The Modern Review
Sherwood Rise,
Nottingham,
July 12, 1881.
Dear Madam,
Thank you much for your two letters.  Though 
I deeply regret the conclusion 
at which you have
arrived.  In fact I now
write to beg you to reconsider
your determination;
I shall venture to 
put before you two or
three considerations which 
I cannot help hoping 
may modify it.
First, I know of no
other writer to whom I
can apply to sum up thisintegrity of the doctors, & a setting down of the 
original writer (whose anonymity is but a 
thin protection) as an outrageous fanatic. If 
the matter ends here, for the sake of the cause 
itself so dear to Miss Cobbe's heart. I shall regret 
that I ever admitted her article at all.
Again, your letter itself, with its many 
interesting points, shows how admirably qualified 
you are to exhibit the true issues of the 
questions [you] raised, and how your keen social 
vision can dispose of the fallacies in 
which the ordinary reader contentedly rests. 
That letter, expanded to six or eight pages of the
Review, would alone suffice to leave the whole 
question in its right light, & to relieve my editorial 
conscience from the fear or having made 
the Review the medium of more harm than 
good. 
I should of course infinitely prefer to have 
your name attached to whatever you might 
send me. But the competency of your knowledge 
would in any case sufficiently appear; 
and if you feel any personal hesitancy in 
intervening as judge between the litigants,
I shall very thankfully receive from you 
an anonymous contribution. Possibly you 
might prefer to write to me at length, & then 
to permit me to throw the judgement into shape 
making extracts from your letter. But I should 
be much better pleased that you should do it all. 
Lastly, Magazine writing (about which you 
express some doubt) like all other writing, is bestcontroversy, since I know
of no other combining the 
requisite knowledge with
the duly judicial frame of 
mind, & whose publicly 
manifested interest in 
moral reform is at the 
same time such that 
I can venture to suggest a
gratuitous contribution to 
our pages.
But that such a summing 
up is essential to convert 
the whole discussion 
from an evil into a good. 
I am persuaded. Almost 
everyone -- being superficial 
-- thinks that Dr Carpenter 
has completely disposed
of Miss Cobbe ; & the sum 
total of effect at the present 
moment is a more confident 
trust than ever in 
the infallibility & universal

The Modern
Review
Sherwood Rise,
Nottingham
July 5, 1881.
Dear Madam,
Miss Cobbe was kind enough 
to show me your most judicial 
critique on her 
recent article on the Medical 
Profession. I herewith 
send you our July number, 
containing two replies. 
I am very anxious that 
the matter should not rest 
here. I fear Miss Cobbe, by 
some unguarded expressions, 
laid herself open to the kindof retort she here receives;
but I am fully persuaded
that there is an amount
of truth in her attack which
should not be allowed to be
forgotten, & covered up by
these replies.
     It would be a profound
satisfaction to me if you
would sum up the controversary
which has thus been 
raised.  My admiration 
for your method of treatment
of the most difficult of 
social questions is no new
thing.  I have already had 
the privilege of calling attention
to your little work on the

moral education of the young,
in the Modern Review.  I feel
that nothing else could make 
the present discussion so 
sure of resulting in substantial
good, as such a fair, judicial,
high-toned, & fully informed
article as you would 
be sure to write.
     I must tell you that the
Modern has been started by a
few young men anxious 
to promote religious & moral
progress, but that all of us
are working for love of the 
cause, & without any means
of remunerating pecuniarily
either ourselves or any other
contributors.  But I cannot 
help hoping that your own 
earnestness in reform &
devotion to social enlightenment
may incline you
nevertheless to do us the goodoffice I seek from you. 
I believe we have many
common friends; but perhaps
a further introduction
than my interest 
in causes in which you
are engaged may be by you
kindly deemed unnecessary.
With sincere regard
I am faithfully yours
Richard A Armstrong.
Ed. Modern Review

To Dr Elizabeth Blackwell.